ad astra per aspera

Amanda Grayson always told her son to never judge a book by it’s cover. 

Spock found that highly illogical due to the fact that physical books were no longer in physical publication and also, that old Terran book jackets that been designed for the exact purpose of making a decision about the book before reading it. 

It was this exact line of thinking that persisted after his meeting with Captain Pike. Captain Pike had recommended that he reach out to one of his gifted recruits–a young man with a name that was often whispered with equal reverence and distaste around campus: Kirk. 

Anyone on campus would have had a hard time not being confronted by the Cadet’s salacious reputation, even if Spock knew the act of rumors and scuttlebutt was a waste–a close cousin to teasing and bullying, something he could never condone–and it was certainly at odds with what Captain Pike maintained. 

“Kid’s a genius, Spock, definitely would be worth challenging him to a game of chess. Might surprise you.”

Surprises were illogical, and based on the upward tick of the Captain’s mouth, he seemed to have said the latter ironically. It was exhausting, Spock thought, to keep track of human emotion. 

Spock had decided that he wouldn’t give James Kirk the chance to surprise him. The rumors were not rumors but truth, as Spock witnessed the Cadet affectionate with not one but three different beings at the early morning mealtime in a span of a week. 

He had seen various other Cadets angrily stalk away from him, fight over him, cry over him around Campus. It was most distracting. He developed a distaste for Kirk that sat uncomfortably in his gullet, giving the man a wide berth at any shared functions where they might have crossed paths. His mother would not approve but Spock was too busy to align himself with anyone that wasn’t focused on their career at Starfleet. 

A day before the Fall Semester concluded found Spock in his favorite alcove in the library. He had an office shared with two other teaching assistances in Kirk Hall but there was a Holiday party in full swing and Spock had a half dozen theses to read and his own assessment to turn in before 7 am the next morning. In short, he was cramming. 

He was in the midst of reviewing a  fourth paper, a headache forming in his temples, and a white knuckled grip on the PADD. 

There was a loud, unrelenting noise that had persisted for the past twenty minutes, thirty-five seconds. 

“Fuck this paper with boughs of holly. Fuck la da da da da da da da da.” 

Spock rose from his alcove and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Pardon me, Cadet-” He began, walking around a stack to where none other than Cadet James Kirk was rocking back on a chair, twirling a pencil with one hand and popping mini marshmallows into his mouth with the other. 

Kirk gave what might be described as a sheepish look before straightening. “Commander Spock. I didn’t realize anyone else was in here.”

“Indeed. Perhaps, you would like to move to a more suitable area of the library for your activities?”

Kirk’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re asking me to leave?”

“This is a quiet area intended for serious work. I believe your theatrics–”

“I was singing and working on a paper.”

“Are better served elsewhere.” Spock finished.

Kirk looked like he give in to some base emotion but then he chuckled. “Yeah, everything they said about you was right.”

Keep reading

Okay, but imagine this:

The White Christmas AU. 

Jim and Bones meet during the war under the command of General Christopher Pike. 

When Jim saves (his hero) Leonard McCoy’s life, he wheedles Bones’ into a partnership. 

Years later, they’re still partners, but at an impasse. Neither of them can admit their love for each other and so they just throw themselves into their work, the only place they can say I love you without possibly ruining a friendship of a lifetime. 

It isn’t until they find themselves at Christopher Pike’s Vermont inn for the Christmas holiday that they realize that they can actually be together without losing what they have already. 

Right?

You are my hero

okay but an au where bones and jim are both doctors who work at the same hospital and jim is in pediatrics and they meet when bones takes joanna for a check up

Holy shit. Okay yes. Jim is the best pediatrician because he’s been in the kids’ shoes. He had pretty bad white coat syndrome after Tarsus until one doctor, a really great man named Dr. Pike, helped him and he saw that maybe doctors weren’t that bad. And then he’s in a situation-a car accident, maybe?-where he helps a kid and uses what little first aid he knows to help the little girl and he likes it. The girl sends him drawings and is all shy and has a huge crush on him and tells her after her mom checks her out of the hospital, that he would make the best doctor ever. But can you imagine how many moms (and dads) fawn over Jim. Uhura as his no nonsense nurse and maybe Spock as his partner in the practice. And Jim has a no nonsense rule about not dating any of the parents of his patients. He just doesn’t. But then Leonard McCoy comes in, Leonard McCoy who he’s heard all these rumors about. His MCAT score actually beat Jim’s. And his reputation at SF Medical is legendary. Leo isn’t one to take Jo to just any doctor. But Pike is about to retire and he’s heard great things about Jim. All Joanna’s best friends go to him. So he decides to bring Jo for a check up, just one. And Jim is so flirty and makes Jo giggle as he goes through the routine and Leo can’t stop but get angry at him. Calls him unprofessional and all this stuff to Chapel but all Chapel can do is smile because Leo hasn’t mentioned anything about Jim’s work. Calling him unprofessional is one thing. But saying he did a shitty job with Jo? That would be bad. The fact that he doesn’t say anything is great. And Jo, bless her, complains of a stomach ache or a headache or whatever because she really wants to see Jim again. Because she’s a perceptive little girl and knows that her daddy likes this new doctor, even if he won’t admit it.

"I have a tummy ache."

Leonard McCoy put down the Dr. Mutter book and fixed his daughter with a glance over the couch. It was early Saturday and he had her for the next week while his ex and her new husband went on a couple's retreat. He kept his opinions on that too himself, of course. "Tummy ache?"

She nodded, strands of hair coming lose from the french braid her mother had sent her in. "A bad one."

He got up and put the back of his hand against her forehead. "Do you want to skip breakfast of Lou's this morning?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Nooo. You promised me confetti pancakes."

"That might be a bit too sweet if your stomach's bothering you, bug. Maybe we should try some toast and we can watch some TV on the couch for a bit?"

"No park?" She looked toward the bay window that gave a view of the great expanse of open commons, a park was a five minute walk and it was already promising to be a warm fall day.

"Not if you're not feeling well, baby girl." He steered her back toward the couch.

She dug into the carpet. "What if we just went for a quick check up with Doctor Jim?"

Leonard's eyebrows flew into his hairline. "Doctor Jim?"

"Yeah. He works on Saturday morning. Nurse Chapel told me when I called." She smirked.

"When did you call?"

"This morning." She tried to hid her grin but she inherited his horrible poker face.

He threw his hands up in the air. "Joanna Beth McCoy!"

"Daddy."

"This is about what we talked about. Sweetie, I know you think I'm lonely but I'm not. I'm fine. And I don't think Dr. Jim even-."

"Even what?"

He was going to say likes men or is grown up enough to be in a relationship. He didn't have time or the ability to unpack a lifetime's worth of bisexual hopes and concerns plus the one-sided rivalry he had with the younger doctor since residency at SF General into language his seven-year-old might understand.

"Please, daddy? Can we go?" She asked, wrapping a small hand around his before he could rake it through his hair.

"We're not bothering Doctor Jim just because you want to, Joanna."

She blinked up at him with a look of sheer determination. She inherited his stubbornness too.

~*~

"You must come to dinner with my Becky, Doctor Kirk. Alaina Curtis had been bringing her grandson, Calvin, in for allergy shots every other Saturday for the past six weeks and never left without an entreaty to ask Calvin's aunt, Becky, out. Becky had taken Curtis once in the beginning and seemed more happy to chat with Christine than him.

But he couldn't explain that or his strict rule to never date anyone related to his patients to Alaina Curtis. He had a feeling she wouldn't understand.

He smiled and nodded, his go-to for situations like this, and tried not to laugh at Curtis' eye-roll.

"The day that woman finds out you prefer men is a day I hope I call out." Uhura commented as she made a notation in a patient chart. Like Jim, she preferred to have office hours on Saturday, as most patient's parents and guardians requested the extra hours for regular appointments. If it wasn't for the fact that Christine and Spock dragged him out most nights, he'd probably never leave. He preferred to always be on call in case a patient needed him.

"Let's make sure we leave that to Spock and I'm not here either."

An hour and a half later found Jim walking the path to his favorite food-truck in the commons. On Saturday he treated himself to The Greasy Spoon, a fantastic diner on wheels that served the most delightful grilled cheese to be found outside his nana's kitchen.

He ordered his slightly boring yet scrumptious usual: a double cheese on sourdough and found his favorite spot near the fountains which burbled just enough to drown out the specifics of park conversation but not enough that he wasn't able to listen to the park gossip of nannies and the chess players just around the corner.

He was mid-chew when a shrill squeal made him choke.

"Doctor Jim! We went by the office but Nurse Christine said you were on lunch and I was sad because you said I could come back anytime." Joanna McCoy pulled her father behind her as she kept up a steady stream of excited chatter. He wiped his hands on his jeans and stood, purposely avoiding the glare that Doctor Leonard McCoy was aiming at him--possibly for being where he didn't want him to be or just for existing.

Doctor McCoy was called Doctor McGorgeous or Doctor McGrumpy interchangeably by the hospital staff when Jim was a resident and there was a betting pool on whether or not he was a softie underneath or just a miserable bastard with the bedside manner of a spoiled house cat. Jim would have gone with the latter until the man showed  up at his practice two weeks ago with his sick daughter in toe. Jim still daydreamed about the way McCoy thanked him profusely, kissed his daughter on the head and promised her the biggest ice cream she could order after the flu test (negative, thank christ) had left her without the negative reaction he was expecting. Apparently Jim was good at his job and Doctor McCoy thought so.

But Doctor McCoy was not only the most unattainable man Jim could have pined over--he was a parent to a patient and that was a line he didn't want to cross. Doctor Pike, his mentor and pediatrician extraordinaire had given him that advice and he wouldn't forget it.

"Hiya, Joanna. Doctor McCoy." He inclined his head and froze, realizing that he stole that move from Spock when he was trying to be conciliatory and that was just too weird.

"Doctor Kirk." McCoy nodded, pulling Joanna closer before she could sit down on the bench next to him.

"Doctor Jim why is your face getting red?"

Jim frowned, putting still greasy fingertips to his cheek which not only felt warm to the touch but itchy. He coughed.

"Daddy! Doctor Jim looks like when Curtis did after the pet show!"

"Shit." Doctor McCoy grew closer just as Jim's vision blurred. He tried to breathe but it was harder than usual. He looked down at his hands which were getting red and patchy with hives. Not good.

"Kirk?" McCoy's hands were on his shoulder. "Do you have a epi-pen?" Kirk?"

He felt bad for making Joanna cry as he pitched forward but he couldn't say that everything was going to be okay when his mouth wouldn't work.

~*~

"Felled by a grilled cheese." A rough voice sighed. "Just like my protege. What a story that will be."

Jim blinked at the rough hospital lights. "Sorry to disappoint. I lived."

"So you did. Thanks to Doctor McCoy. If you had finished the sandwich in that back corner of the park, who knows how long it would have been before someone found you. God, Jim, do you even carry an epi?" Even worried, Pike managed to look disapproving.

"I have the same sandwich every Saturday, Chris. I never need it." Jim forced out the sentence, wincing when he was done and he took a ragged breath.

"The new girl didn't clean the knife when she cut the sourdough, you know that? She was making a lobster salad sandwich before that. You could have died because of something so simple."

Jim made a face. "How'd you figure that out?"

"Oh, McCoy was ripping the owner a new one when they bought you those." Jim turned his head to see a huge flower arrangement taking up most of the bedside table. It was next to a large picture of what he guessed was Jim laying on the park grass while a large hand pressed down on his chest--Joanna's depiction of her father administering CPR he was sure.

"I'm not sure who's more smitten, the little girl or her father." As if Pike could read his thoughts too. Jim nearly shuddered at the thought.

"Hm."

"I know how you feel about McCoy. I've known since your first rounds with the man."

"Jesus, Pike, can I have one secret?"

Pike raised an eyebrow.

"And I don't date patient's relations. You taught me that."

Pike laughed. "For your own good. When I told you that, you had just stitched up that little boy and his divorced parents were both going to propose to you right then and there. If you really like McCoy, which I know you do, then you should ask him for dinner." Pike smirked, the same smirk that he delivered when Jim got into med school and passed his exams. "He did save your life after all."

~*~

Years later, a local San Francisco magazine hoping to get the dirt on the two of them will call them a power couple and ask for quotes on when they first fell in love for the expose, hoping to unveil an epic origin story. Jim will say it all started when Bones (the nickname stuck after Jim in his post-CPR delirium complemented McCoy on his strong bones, this according to Joanna McCoy who swears that Jim passed out again after saying it) nearly made him piss his pants on his first round as an intern. Bones would say that he fell for his husband sometime around mouth to mouth and their first date a week later. It didn't matter much, because Joanna would take the credit and lord it over them for as long as she wanted.

For the lovely anonymous soul that wanted a bookstore AU. Fair warning, I like this prompt a bit too much and will probably revisit it.

-

There are worse fates than this, Jim thinks as he flips the lock on the deadbolt. A lot of people run away from their past and problems and own them like an unwanted gift they’re too guilty to part with. Jim doesn’t own his past anymore. He owns a bookstore. 

He’s about to walk away from the door, the early autumn air is exceptionally bitter this morning, but he notices the figure practically slumped in the vestibule. Scruffy, still in scrubs and with a fraying jacket that looks just as worn down as the man himself. 

Jim sighs and waves his hand to Chekov at the cafe counter. They’re going to need a lot of coffee. Possibly spiked.

-

I’m a man set in my ways. Leonard McCoy said one night when Jim kept the store open later than he should and sat on the threadbare couch around the cafe area, a little too close, sharing a bottle of something a little too sweet.

Jim laughed and said that sounded like something a character in any of the books on his shelf would say. 

-

The first time Doctor McGrump comes in, Jim’s reorganizing his Must Read table. This table is organized bi-weekly because as Chekov says, Jim inhales books like people inhale air. It gets lonely in his studio and he has shoddy bootleg cable. Books are company. Books are the opposite of loneliness. 

“‘Scuse me,” Smooth southern drawl like buttery maple syrup on a short stack startles Jim out of arranging the books into a star. He drops Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on the floor. “I’m looking for a book.”

Jim whirls around, a witty stuck on the tip of his tongue when he gets a look at the guy. Stubble and green eyes, floppy brown hair and a screwed up expression (is he allergic to books?) and definitely the hottest guy Jim has seen all week, month, year, forever. “Uh, yeah.” Jim rubs his hands on his pants for lack of anything to do with the rebellious digits, and licks his lips. “Anything specific?”

“It’s for my daughter. She’s read most of the popular teenager fiction, young adult, I think it’s called?" 

Jim nods, focusing so much on the way the way there might be noticeable grey in the man’s stubble that he trips over daughter. Daughter means wife. White picket fence. Happy family and definitely no room for Jim Kirk, collector of books and lost causes. Fuck. "Yeah.”

“Well, she’s coming to visit me this week and I’d like to have a few books for her.”

Jim feels a million years lighter, like balloons are tugging him up and up into the ceiling. Visiting means separation? Divorce? He grins, realizing he’s a very bad man to want another person to be divorced. “I’ve got some ideas.”

-

He loads McCoy up with his usual picks. (Yes, he’s twenty-seven and still reads young adult fiction). The new Jandy Nelson, his favorite from Walter Dean Meyers, Jacqueline Woodson, a few underrated novels that usually skip the notice of the top YA lists. Well, fuck that. He makes his own lists. 

McCoy buys all ten. Jim had only intended to give him a few choices but McCoy waved him away said, “Trust you,” and handed Jim his credit card. He was impressed. 

-

“What made you open a bookstore?”

“Books are easier to deal with.”

“Than what?”

People. Responsibilities. Expectations. You name it, I’m running from it. 

Keep reading

He wasn’t really running away. 

But after Grandpa Tiberius, and Frank, Sam leaving and fucking Tarsus, he had no desire to be near Earth that was and the memory of everyone and everything that had left him behind. 

So when the Firefly class transport ship stopped on the gorram rock he was currently calling home, he knew not to look a gift ship in the mouth. 

"You looking to get some place, kid?" The man, tacky magenta shirt and browncoat getting dusty as a nasty wind carried by. Didn’t look to phase the man. 

"Just hoping for a ride." Jim readjusted the strap of the napsack he carried, mostly full of books and a few pieces of clothes. Everything else could rot in the empty farmhouse in Iowa. 

The man looked him up and down and Jim braced for the leer he knew could quite easily come from a situation like this. He swallowed the sour taste in the back of his throat. “You got folks? Anyone missing you? Look a bit young-.”

"I’m old enough to know when to leave." Jim told him. "And I’ve got money. You gonna let me board or not?"

Man chuckled. “You’ll do. Name’s Mal Reynolds, I’m the Captain of Serenity.” He reached out his hand and Jim only stared for a few seconds before shaking it. 

"Jim. Jim Kirk."

The captain jerked his head to the ship and Jim walked up the ramp to what looked like a small cargo bay. 

"Now wait a gorram minute Mal, we can’t be taking on any more infants." A bearded man said, with what looked to an actual pout on his features. 

"Jayne. Shut your mouth, will you?" Mal said, walking past Jim to help another blonde haired man with some cargo. 

"Between the girl, Doc Wanna Be and this new kid, we’ll have three youngsters on board and you know how I feel about that." The man called Jayne sat down on some cargo and scratched at his head. 

"I guess that makes me Doc Wanna Be." A southern voice said beside Jim. 

Jim stiffened, hating himself for not realizing someone was so close. He relaxed his position enough to turn around, giving the newcomer an easy grin. “Well, it’s better than the kid.”

"Guess so." The guy, not much older than Jim himself said. He was scruffy looking, probably looked about as well as Jim felt. He was fitted with layers of flannel and wore a similar browncoat that Mal had on. And his eyes were a deep honey brown that Jim was most definitely not in love with at first sight. The accent didn’t help. 

Before he could respond, a face appeared between them. Hot southern guy actually yelled and Jim drew back before realizing that it was a girl around their age. “Your eyes. They’re blue. Not the same as the hands of blue. Sadder.”

She was hanging by her legs, curled around the poles of the upper walkway. 

She laughed as she swung down, running off on bare feet. 

"Welcome aboard." 

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