Chapter Text
“Bones!” Jim clambered onto Bones’ bed and shook his friend awake, knowing full well that if he were fully conscious, Bones would be calling him an over-excited little puppy at that exact moment. “Bones I got my results!”
“STI free, atta boy. You’re a medical marvel.” Bones replied sleepily, clapping a hand against Jim’s shoulder briefly before rolling over and burying his head into his pillows again. No matter how tired he was, Bones always had one sarcastic comment in him before he decided to ignore Jim’s idiotic overexcitement. Normally, Jim would just snort and go find someone else to annoy, but this was too important.
“What? No! I passed my interspecies ethics exam!” Not just passed it, he’d fucking aced it, which no-one had expected considering the multiple screw ups he made on a weekly basis in real life. When he was a Captain he’d sure as hell have to make sure his officers knew what they were doing, because he didn’t think for a second his grade would stand up in practice. But that was a problem for a later date. As of that evening, they were celebrating. “C’mon Bones, I fucking passed. Let’s hit the town!”
Bones had to want to blow off some steam as much as he did - he’d been putting up with Jim’s incessant revision and feeding him through it for the last week straight. It was nearing the end of a long, bloody semester too – they deserved this.
“Well done, kid. But I just got off a twelve hour shift, there’s no way in hell I’m leaving this bed.”
Despite his disappointment, there wasn’t much Jim could say in protest against that. Jim sometimes forgot that Bones was on one of the most brutal courses Starfleet had to offer – sometimes it felt like he was Jim’s own private Doctor, considering the amount of time he spent looking after him. He wasn’t underestimating when he said that, either. Bones had an entire medical kit on his shelf dedicated to Jim, and an ever-growing list of allergies to watch out for. Bones was there on the bad nights when Jim was physically sick with PTSD and nightmares, and there on the good nights when they both got fucking obliterated at the local dives and spent the following morning taking it in turns in their bathroom to throw up. He could let this one night slide, if Bones wasn’t up to it.
“Take Mitchell instead.” Bones said, just a fraction too quietly for Jim to really think that was sincere. He knew Bones didn’t like Gary very much, and nor did he at that moment. But he let the undertone of bitterness slide.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll take you out for breakfast in the morning instead.” He clasped Bones’ hand in his, pushing out any thoughts of Gary Mitchell and grinning at his achievement. He’d actually passed. He no longer had to worry about a giant stain on his Academy record and grades. He’d worked damn hard and been rewarded.
“You told Pike yet?” Bones murmured, getting the gist of Jim’s inability to discuss Gary just then, as ever, and blinking rapidly until he finally locked eyes with Jim. “You know he’ll wanna know.” Chris was nothing if not supportive in Jim’s intellectual achievements, and occasionally either getting him out of trouble or making him truly fucking suffer for all the trouble he’d caused. Regardless of the weird parental type role the older man had taken in Jim’s life, he was damn keen on not showing favouritism. Bones was right, though. He would want to speak to Jim after the annoying, anxious little git he’d been about the exam for weeks.
“No, I was going to see him tomorrow before combat.”
“Well go see him now, idiot, before he finds out from someone else and you miss his ecstatic reaction.” Bones squeezed his hand gently and then let go, dragging himself up from his mattress and sitting. Not without his usual flair of dramatics though – Bones groaned deeply, in the way Jim normally only ever heard from him before sunrise, when he was getting up for a shift. Bones, for all the determination and perseverance he had, was not a morning person. It was funny really, because his friend had trained himself to stay awake for hours without so much as yawning - once he was actually awake. Jim, on the other hand, could spring awake at the drop of a hat but he’d be damned if he didn’t need a nap every three hours.
“Go on, see Pike. I’ll be ready to go out in an hour.”
Jim grinned widely. “Really?”
“Yes, god help me.” He kicked his covers back. “Only because I’m off for the next three days, anyway.” Bones had a particular way of grumbling affectionately that made Jim feel like laughing endlessly. People being too nice made him suspicious. Other people hated him. It was only really Bones and Pike who seemed to get the balance right – that’s why they were just about the only people alive that he trusted. “Get to it, you can come and drag me away at 2300.”
“You’re the best, Bones.” Jim flung himself off the bed, grabbing his results envelope. He grinned back at his friend, who looked as if he couldn't really believe what he was agreeing to, but continuing on nonetheless. Bones, luckily, had no trouble with favouritism. Jim knew he was his friend's favourite patient - just as Bones was his favourite Doctor, and Jim had seen a fucking lot of Doctor's in his sorry life. None of the others had such great hair, he thought, watching Bones pad half-naked into their bathroom. “See you soon.” He called after him, and received a sort of agonised groan in response. Jim's grin only widened, and he departed their dorm.