#boldlycaptainkirk

Leonard doesn’t expect to be working on this all afternoon, particularly since nearly everyone he knows is enjoying the day off in some manner or another. Jim, rather than tear up the town or find a circle of friends to pass the time with, seems to have opted for whiling away the afternoon having a nap. It might have surprised him in the past, but more than anything he’s come to recognize the effort that goes into maintaining the mask Jim wears a lot of the time. The poor man’s exhausted, and looks can be incredibly deceiving. 

It’s his own fault that he just assumed Naftali would be in the bedroom with him. His own fault for just assuming that the body he feels below the desk, the brush he feels against his legs, is his own daemon. 

“I don’t know who you are, but I do know you’re sitting in my chair.”

The audacity! Captain Pike thought to himself.  Who had granted this unfamiliar Starfleet officer the conn?  Certainly not Number One, and Spock was off duty, and he damn sure would never allow it.

Despite not recognizing him, Pike oddly felt some semblance of familiarity when looking at him, like he’d seen him somewhere before.

This thing here

Leonard wasn’t the touchy-feely sort, even before the divorce. But he had learned in their first week of rooming together that Jim wasn’t the same. Kid was damn near touch-starved, but the doctor had found that he adjusted to that quickly.

It even carried over into their lives aboard the Enterprise. Not that either had much time off, and even less frequently at the same time. This was one such occasion, and they decided to make the most of it by doing absolutely nothing. There was no current mission, no danger at present, and they were just relaxing.

          The message wakes Leonard up from a dead-sleep. At 3am, McCoy’s communicator is set to silent for all incoming transmissions, but for a few select numbers. The hospital where’s he perpetually on-call, his Momma. Jim. 

         He gropes for the device in the dark, flipping it open on auto-pilot and wincing at the glow of the digital screen. Jim’s short message (saying so little and too much all at once) wakes the doctor up properly, so that he sits up in his bed and rubs a rough palm over his face to dispel the remnants of sleep. 

        “….shit.” Len sighs, kicking off the covers and swinging his feet to the floor. Yesterday’s jeans are snatched off the back of his desk chair, the doctor hastily pulling on whatever clothing is readily available. He shrugs a flannel button down over his tee-shirt and kicks his sockless feet into his boots, heading for the door. Distractedly, Leonard thumbs in a reply:

         [ MSG :: Kirk, J. ]   i’m coming. where are you?

➤ @boldlycaptainkirk​

He has fallen into a habit of visiting the observation deck of late; he deems it efficient to purge the endless train of thought brought on by the day’s events before retiring to his quarters. 

Obligations have kept him occupied longer than usual this night, so he is particularly certain the rest of the crew are sound asleep and as such, the observation deck empty. 

It seems he was mistaken. 

“Intuition is the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious rationalization,” he responds to his captain’s remark, slowly taking a seat where he was indicated to do so. 

4. Helping them walk.

“See. It’s not that bad.” He stated dryly. His throat felt thick, his own heart beating profusely against the inside of his rib cage nearly knocking the breath right out of his lungs and causing his chest to ache with every pump.

Subconsciously he tightened his grip around Jim, his other hand flexing on the medical belt Jim had on so Len could get a better grip.

After what had happened with Khan-… things had drastically slowed down. What had happened to Kirk it-… it had kept Leonard up every night since and he would never admit it to Jim but, he hadn’t been home since it had all happened. His nurses had asked him to leave but he spent long nights at his desk, or in the break room, anywhere that he could catch a nap and make sure Jim was still okay.

“Let’s get you back to bed.” He said softly. “It’s getting late and I think we should call it a day.”

“Well,” he says, amused, duffel slung over his shoulder. “Somebody thinks they know somethin’.”

They’ve been assigned rooms directly next to one another, which is at once an interesting fact and, to be honest, pretty damn convenient. He’d like to assume that they’ve been assigned by rank - that the highest ranking officers had received this particular block, and that perhaps Spock is on Jim’s other side - but time will tell. 

“You wanna check out mine, or yours?” He bets they’re identical inside, but he also knows they’ve been promised a breathtaking view of the bay, large windows, and unnecessarily large bath tubs, among other things.