Jim always suspected that Bones' gruff and ire was just poorly concealed anger management issues, but as he got to know the man he realized it was just poorly concealed concern.

So when someone suggests that Jim find his way off the nearest cliff, the absolute silence from Bones as he gets to his feet clues Jim into the trouble that's about to go down. 

Silent Bones means one of three things. 1. Contentment 2. Hurt or 3. Pure, cold, fury. 

The offending character finds himself on his back, a broken nose, two black eyes, and a split lip. 

I could continue this one if anyone would like <3 

Len stared down at the motionless body in front of him with his heart in his throat. It was too close to just a few short years ago, when the same body had been carried into his medbay, unmoving, breathless, cold. 

Now though, Len could see the steady rise and fall of Jim’s chest with each breath. There was a healthy color to his cheeks and his heartbeat thrummed steadily on the monitors. Jim was very much alive, but for all that the doctor could reach him, that didn’t mean much. Carefully, Len stroked his hand over Jim’s forehead, brushing back the shaggy blond hair. He had been trying to get the kid to get a hair cut for weeks…

“Doctor McCoy.” Spock moved into Len’s line of vision, he had obviously been trying to gain the doctor’s attention for a while. “Is the captain still unresponsive?” 

Len closed his eyes and nodded slowly. Whatever the Gorsee had done to Jim, it wasn’t letting up. It wasn’t even suppose to be Jim. An over excited science officer had stepped past the clearly marked bounds of the Goresee holy grounds. Jim, being the noble fool that he was, had insisted on taking the punishment. Bound and determined to protect his crew at any cost. Even if the cost was his own life. 

“What did the high priest say exactly?” Len forced himself to look at Spock. He had brought Jim back from the dead, he would fix this. “What exactly is the punishment?” 

Spock glanced at the captain. “The Goresee believe that the holy grounds are the consciousness of their planet. Lieutenant Marks trespassed on the consciousness and in turn his punishment was to have his consciousness imprisoned, a punishment that was taken on by the captain.” 

“How do they do it?” Len scowled at the PADD in his hands. Everything that should have made Jim, well, Jim, was there. There was no reason for him to be in a coma, and yet here he was, completely unresponsive. Spock shifted nervously, doing little to set Len at ease. 

“I do not know. From what Lieutenant Uhura managed to translate, it seems that the Goresee have somehow removed–for lack of a better term–the captain’s soul. They did speak of a trial to have his consciousness retrieved, however I only know that it is a trial that can only be done by his most trusted of companions.” Spock leveled Len with a meaningful look. “After some thought, I feel that you would be the best candidate to complete the trial.” 

“Are you out of your mind?!” Len nearly dropped his PADD. “I’m a doctor not some kind of white knight! Jim trusts you better than anyone, why aren’t you doing it?” 

“I am overseeing the ship, Doctor.” Spock paused. After a few moments he started to speak again, his voice lower and tinged with the slightest hint of pleading. “I also do not believe that I am Jim’s most trusted companion. He doest trust me, we share a bond of friendship that will never compare to any I have had before or will have after. However, when it comes to his most personal matters–not just ones of morals, logic, or life and death, but also matters of the heart, home, and person–he goes to you. It is my firm belief that for all Jim and I share, your bond is...different, and in its way, more profound.” 

Len scoffed and rubbed his face. “You’re full of it, Spock.” 

The vulcan simply shook his head. “There are very few people who would risk trying to bring a man back from the dead, Doctor. I could not count myself among them.” 

Daring one more glance at Jim’s still form, Len took a deep breath and nodded slowly. 

He repeated what he was going to say in his head over and over in line, mouthing the words steadily and without flaw each time a new person puts in their order, gets their food and leaves. Curly fries and a bottle of water. Curly fries and a bottle of water, curly fries and a bottle of water. Not that hard, pretty short and too the point. He can ace his AP calc exams he can fucking do this. Okay Kirk your turn you can do this!

“Cuu-uuuur-uuur-” The word got stuck in this throat, but the woman behind the glass waited patiently for him to finish. Jim stopped and took a deep breath before trying again. “Cur-ur-ur-uuuur-” 

Some of the kids in line had started to snicker and whisper. The harder Jim tried the worse the stutter got and the harder it was to get the stupid word out. Finally one of the kids yelled at him to either spit it out or get out of line. The woman tried to stop him but the blond just slumped away from the window and went to sit at the corner table.

With a sigh Jim pulled out his history book and started to flip through it, hoping to distract himself from how hungry he was. There hadn’t been time for breakfast today and this was his only break of the day. He wouldn’t be able to eat until he got home and the very thought was making his stomach rumble. Jim let his head fall against the open text book, his glasses smashing up against his face. He swore into the pages and tugged at his hair unhappily until a large thud startled him into looking up.

Bones McCoy had just dropped his large black backpack onto the bench across from Jim. The punk slouched into a seat and shoved a basket of curly fries across the table to Jim. 

“Maybe if you cuss like that, you could get your order out.” The older boy leaned against his hand and watched Jim from across the table, flicking his tongue across the lip piercing at the corner of his mouth. 

Jim narrowed his eyes at Bones and then the curly fries. 

“Why?” “Because you look hungry, kid. And just because the people behind you were being assholes doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get to eat.” Bones shrugged and nodded to the fries again. “So eat up.”

“Aren’t puuuu-uuuh-uunks supposed to be rude?”

“Aren’t nerds supposed to be eloquent?” 

Jim snorted and took the fries. Bones wasn’t treating him like he was an idiot or unfortunate. It was a lot better than most people. 

Most people don't know this but Leo has friends outside of Jim and the Bridge Crew. 

There was a few guys he would go out with when he needed a break. When Jim was with Gaila, he would sneak off to a Bar with some of the older cadets and guys from SF Medical that he had gotten friendly with. 

He realizes now, just home from their five year mission, that friendly was relative. 

"God, do you remember that cadet, fuck, what's his name? The one Jenny, the nurse called Sexy hair." Erik Coleman, now a lieutenant on a surveying ship asks. They met in one of the few classes he and Jim didn't have together. A boy from North Carolina, Leo had fallen into talks of the southern air and open fields. It was a nostalgia thing that drew them together.

Donny Curts, a SF Medical orderly barked out a laughter, nearly spraying his shitty bar fries all over their booth. "Kirk, wasn't it? The asshole that cheated his way into captaincy?"

"Hated that little shit." Lou Reyes, a nurse that Chapel had dated during Leo's time at the Academy.

"He was arrogant wasn't he?" Coleman said, taking a large swig from his Budweiser Classic. 

Leo licked his lips, unsure of how to proceed. While he could agree that Jim was arrogant, he didn't appreciate what these men, once friends, were saying. At all. Something old and familiar reared it's head. Jim called it his protective streak. Bones called it self-preservation. 

"Ah sorry man, you knew him didn't you? Served on the same ship or something?" Reyes asked. He must have seen the dark look that Leo knew had come over his face. 

He stood up and tossed a few bills on the table for his own drinks, made sure to show his left hand where Jim's ring sat snug and comfortable. "Yeah, I'm just the asshole that married him."