background story: Lost and Found (Kirk/Bones)
some background story for Kirk and Bones, written by kirktastic and dctr_mccoy
San Francisco, winter 2256
North Beach tended to attract the tourists, as it had for centuries. The quirky neighborhood had gone through several renovations, periods of highs and lows but its location made it a natural waypoint for people moving from one area of of San Francisco to another. Jim and Bones were common enough fixtures at a number of bars and pubs around the city, Kirk on a first-name basis with many of the bartenders and waitstaff and busboys that made up that close-knit community. As a rule, though, they tended to stay away from the more crowded areas, leaving them to the cadets and tourists...
...which is why Kirk was surprised when he got the call from the bartender at Roscoe's, a small bar all the way over in the North Beach area. They didn't usually head that far when they went looking for entertainment or alcohol, but Kirk recognized the name. It was exactly the type of bar Bones preferred when he wanted to get drunk - seedier, darkly-lit rooms that reeked of smoke and beer, quiet conversations in corners rather than boisterous boasting, pick-up lines, and fist fights.
The message was clear enough. "Your friend's here, and he's not looking too good. I don't know how he got here, but he's gonna need some help getting home."
Kirk stared down at the comm long after it went silent, just somewhere between surprised and absolutely shocked. That didn't sound like Bones at all. Bones would go out and get drunk on his own from time to time, but this was the first time a bar had ever called him specifically and said Bones was in bad shape. "Fuck." He whispered, and immediately went to pull on real clothing.
It was absolutely pouring when Kirk got to the bar, and thanks to his means of transport being a cycle, he was soaked to the bone. His hair dripped into his eyes as he pushed open the door to the tiny, quiet bar. Ancient faces lifted and studied him, some lingering and others dismissing, before they went back to their muttered conversations or silent drownings. Kirk barely noticed any of it as he just scanned the bar, looking for that familiar splash of red, or blue, or even the dark familiar eyes.
But Bones was sitting at the bar in a nondescript shirt and jeans. He was looking down at the bar, lost in thought, his right hand bringing a cigarette up to his mouth for a deep drag before tapping it against the ashtray in front of him. Kirk nearly had a minor heart attack when he caught sight of Bones, staring. Was Bones... smoking? Bones didn't smoke. Kirk had to be seeing things.
He walked through the quiet room and up to the bar. He moved right up beside Bones, caught the bartender's eye with practiced ease. His concern only grew when the look the bartender gave him was one of relief. "Beer, anything on tap." Kirk knew a bartender's memory, the man would know what he wanted. From the corner of his eye, he watched Bones' face.
It was a moment before Bones realized he knew the man sitting next to him. "Kid," he said slowly, as if surprised. "Fancy meeting you here." He watched as the bartender put a tall glass in front of Kirk. "Put't on my tab," Bones told him, pointing at the beer. The bartender glanced to Kirk, who shook his head and pointed to himself. The bartender nodded to Bones with one quick glance again at Kirk.
"Hey you." Kirk slid onto the stool next to Bones, folding his one leg in as he watched the drunken stoop that was his friend's posture. "Kinda surprised to find you here at all, specially without me." He kept his grin easy, knowing he'd have to talk Bones into spilling what had brought him here to drown his pain.
"One o'those days, Jimmy boy," Bones replied slow. "One o'those weeks, one o'those months... fuck, hasn't been much a year, to be truthful. But t'day was a fuckin' bad day and I wanted a drink." He looked back up at Kirk, forehead wrinkled. "Shoulda waited for you, 'sorry. Didn't think... hey, you're all wet," he added, chuckling a little at that.
Did he just really call me Jimmy boy? Kirk thought with a frown of displeasure. Man, he sounds like pure liquid Southern, if that's even possible. "Well talk to me," Kirk encouraged, getting his beer with a friendly tip of the glass in the bartender's direction. He took a sip, testing what he had been given, and took a long golden drink once he approved. He put the glass down onto a coaster and watched the first bead of sweat forming on the outside of the glass. "What sucked so much about today?"
"Lost a patient." Bones took another drag from his cigarette and then pushed the butt into the ashtray. "Not just a patient... Admiral Getty."
Shit. Why was Bones, of all people, working on someone like Admiral Getty? He was pretty sure he could remember Bones talking about the Admiral in the past, one of his professors. Some part of his brain was telling him that was right... the Getty had been teaching medical classes. Had he retired? Kirk was suddenly vaguely ticked off that he couldn't remember even though he had no reason to have known. "How did you end up in charge of that?" He asked quietly
"...'s on duty when he come in," Bones slurred in a quiet voice, lighting up another cigarette, offering one to Kirk, who waved it off. "Heart attack, wasn't nothin' t'do, really, just - make'em comfortable and call his family." Bones tapped on the bar, motioning the bartender toward him. "Gimme another one," he gruffed.
The bartender looked over at Kirk once then leaned in toward Bones. "Gonna give you one more, then that's it, doc, okay?"
Bones looked back at him with narrowed eyes, then back down at the glass. "...then make it a double."
Nothing could have been done, and Kirk was pretty sure that was half the problem. Bones would have wanted to give a fighting shot, but couldn't with something as stupid and simple as a heart attack. "I'll make sure he gets home." He assured the bartender. He could put Bones on the back of the bike and trust him to hold on, would just go slow through the rain.
Bones caught the little glance between the two men. "How'd ya know I's here?" he looked over at Kirk.
"I'm psychic. Thought you'd realized that by now." Kirk said easily, grinning in a tease. His voice softened somewhat as he spoke again, "Someone was worried 'bout ya."
Kirk was rewarded with a snort at that as Bones snuffed out his cigarette. "Yeah, okay." Pulling out his wallet, Bones dropped some money on the bar and finished his drink in one swallow. "Ready when you are." Sliding off the bar seat, he stood, shakily at first. While it might not have been as apparent while he was sitting at the bar talking, it was pretty clear once he began moving that he was far from sober. Kirk gave a grateful look to the bartender who just nodded. They came around often enough, he could deal with a tab for a short while.
With some effort, Kirk pulled Bones' arm around his shoulders. "Come on, out to my bike big boy. One step at a time, I'm holding ya."
It took far, far longer then it should have to get Bones out, but Kirk was even more grateful no one tried to help or even looked twice at them. "Remember how to ride this girl?" He asked, wanting to keep Bones talking.
But Bones didn't answer, not responding to any of Kirk's questions, trying to pretend as if he wasn't depending on his younger friend to just make it out the door. Frowning at the help, he stood outside, looking at the bike. "When the fuck did it start raining?"
"Dunno, I was warm in my room. Come on, on the bike, right here." Kirk patted the seat, then helped Bones onto it. It was like trying to arrange a sack of rice that could move, but in the end Kirk managed to get Bones behind him, arms wrapped tight around him in the soaking rain. "You have to hang on. Promise me you won't let go of me for anything."
He still didn't answer, but Bones listened to Kirk's words and silently obeyed, holding onto Kirk as tight as he could, feeling the rain pelting his head and back as they slowly took off down the road. Kirk took his time getting back to their dorms, ignoring the sting of rain in his eyes. He could feel Bones put his head down on his shoulder, probably getting just as beat by the stinging rain but even worse. At least his leather coat was protecting his arms and torso.
When they got back, Kirk slipped his cycle into its customary spot (it wasn't really a spot, but it kept her nice and protected and no one had complained yet). He levered Bones off the bike, looking skyward as lightning made the pitch-dark night light up as bright as day. Man, it's bad tonight. Kirk ended up staggering into the wall when Bones stumbled and dropped all his weight downwards, but managed to keep them both upright even as his shoulder throbbed in complaint from hitting the wall. He thumbed the lift button and forced them both into the too-bright interior of it where they dripped on the floor. Bones' silence worried him, a lot.
The silence continued into their rooms where Kirk dropped Bones into his desk chair and knelt in front of him, not saying anything himself as he started to pull off Bones' boots.
Bones' eyes were almost closed as he swayed a little in his chair. Suddenly they snapped open, looking down, dark and hard at Kirk. "Cut it out," he said roughly, pulling back, unsteady even in his chair. "... can fuckin' do it m'self," as he turned away from his friend. Pulling his sopping wet shirt off, he threw it on the ground next to his desk.
Glancing down at Kirk, hair soaked, Bones muttered, "... gonna get sick, all wet like that."
"You can be a fucking bastard when you're drunk. Just trying to help." Kirk got up, muttering about Bones being ungrateful, and started shrugging out of his wet clothing and shoving it into the laundry chute. He didn't stop until he was nude, then walked across the room and into the bathroom to grab a towel for them both. He flung one at Bones, mostly expecting it to just flop on him.
Bones let the towel hit him, then he began awkwardly drying his hair. Glaring as Kirk stomped around the room, he stood on unsteady feet and began taking off his own pants. He'd managed to get them halfway down his legs before Bones lost his balance and stumbled forward, falling hard right onto the floor. "Fuck," he muttered, grabbing at his knee. "Dammit."
"And now you know why I was helping." Kirk shook his head as he walked over, kneeling and giving a hard shove on Bones' chest to get him to fall backwards. It didn't take much effort. He grabbed Bones' jeans at the waistline and just pulled them down along with his underwear, giving a surprisingly accurate toss of the heavy material into the laundry chute where it hung on the edge.
"Fuck, careful," Bones groaned, rolling over and trying to protect his kneecap. Once on the ground, he looked up at the ceiling and at Kirk, looking down at him with a sort of angry concern in his eyes. Pulling himself up to his hands, Bones crawled over to his bed and leaned his head against it, closing his eyes. Kirk just rolled his eyes and followed Bones, using the towel to finish drying Bones off without too much groping involved, then hooked an arm under the doctor and levered him up onto the bed.
"For you, sleep. I'll make sure you have something for a hangover." Kirk sat on the edge of the bed, still nude. He never gave a damn about his state of undress which usually got them into arguments.
But Bones hadn't even noticed their state of dress (or undress) and even if he had, was too drunk to care. Laying back on the bed, he looked over at Kirk sleepily and reached for his arm, giving it a squeeze. "... thanks, Jim," he murmured, not letting go of the arm.
Kirk gave a little smile, "When I wake up with a cold, then you can play doctor all over again." His tone was almost affectionate as he went to get up, but the grip on his arm kept him in place. "Need something else?" He asked softly, knowing Bones needed to sleep this shit off more then anything.
"Don't want no more days like t'day," Bones grumbled in a low voice, slurring his words a little, unaware of how tight he was still holding onto Kirk's arm. "...you see whatcha can do 'bout that, 'kay?"
"I'll get on that." Kirk murmured, feeling his arm throb under Bones' grip. Gonna bruise. He thought with a sigh. "Just relax." He reached up and tousled the dark, wet strands of hair.
"...'kay." Closing his eyes as the fingers ran through his hair, Bones relaxed his grip on Kirk's arm. "Sorry you hadda come get me... don't get sick."
"I'm gonna go take a hot shower so I don't. Not going anywhere tonight, I have a test in the morning." Kirk looked over to their schedule, hanging on the wall, scribbled on and messy. "...you don't have anything until one."
Bones shook his head as he leaned back into the pillow. "... told me not t'come in 'morrow." Not after what happened today...
Kirk wondered if Bones even could hear himself talking aloud, "Okay. Probably better that way. I'll swing by your classes and get your stuff. Just get some rest, I'll put the hypo on the sidetable." He risked glancing down at his elbow and kept back a curse at the dark marks already forming.
"Gotta talk t'my advisor," Bones continued on, talking to no one in particular, yawning loudly. "Hmm, try not t'get kicked outta program." He closed his eyes, snorting to himself, as if this was funny.
"You won't. You did everything you could." Kirk stood up and squeezed Bones' arm before walking across the room towards the bathroom. He would pull on some real clothing against the rain and he'd make sure he was right about his own words.
"Not that. 's what happened after..." Still naked, Bones turned over to his side, wrapping his arms around his pillow. His backside was facing Kirk, making it harder for Kirk to hear him. "Fucked up with the family."
Kirk looked back (...fuck, why did Bones have to have such a nice ass? It was distracting...) and licked his lips, "What... what do you mean? What happened?" he asked in the quiet between them. The rain poured against the window like a background of white noise.
"Hmmm." For a moment Kirk wondered if Bones had fallen asleep until he heard the next part. "Didn't say g'bye... shoulda let'm see his dad." Clutching at the sheets on his bed, Bones pulled at them, managing to get his legs covered.
Oh no. Kirk walked back across their room and grabbed the edge of the sheets to tug them up over Bones' body. "...His son?" Kirk asked softly as he sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at Bones and trying to avoid pressing against that now covered backside.
"Didn't see it... didnt' watch it, good that. Hard watchin' that. Fuckin' useless."
"Then you didn't fuck up." Kirk murmured, stroking back Bones' hair again, "You're not useless. There's a lot of people that owe their life to you. ...Me too."
Bones went quiet again, then flipped his body over, facing Kirk, one arm coming to land over Kirk's leg. Taking deep breaths, he pressed his face into his pillow. "Dad," he mumbled, then frowned.
"Dad?" Kirk asked quietly, "What about him?"
A long shuddering breath. "Hmmm... fucked that up too."
He had a very, very bad feeling about this, "How did you fuck that up?" Kirk knew that Bones' parents were both dead, gotten from little tidbits over the months, but not anything about how they had passed on.
Bones didn't answer, not in words. Instead his face crumbled, eyes closed tight as he heaved a long, shuddering sob into the pillow. His entire body tensed as he shook, a tear sliding slowly down the crease of his nose to land on the pillow. Kirk's eyes went wide in surprise, and he bit hard into his lower lip. Crying was always really, really awkward at best. He hesitated, glancing around the room as if looking for a better option, then looked back down at Bones. He flexed his hand once, then cautiously laid it on the other man's back. The skin was warm, and now he could feel the faint shuddering beneath his palm.
Did he have something to do with his Dad's death? Bones was... how old was Bones? Kirk had to think about it, and decided to roughly pin him at about twenty-nine, maybe thirty. Almost a decade separated them, but they found a friendship in each other they had no where else. Maybe because they were both outcasts in their own way. Kirk let out a breath out through his nose and started to rub Bones' back slowly, not knowing what to say and not sure he needed to say anything at all.
A few minutes later and Bones was quiet again, but for the deep breaths out of his mouth. The arm around Kirk's leg tightened, pulling himself closer until his face rested against Jim's thigh, mumbling unintelligible sounds into the long muscle of Kirk's leg, and sighing deeply. Kirk's shoulders slumped, First time I've had a hot guy like this who--- He forced himself to stop thinking that thought. Instead, he shifted the best he could with Bones holding onto him like a child after a nightmare. He grabbed for a pillow and put it on the bed, laying backwards on the thin spot left between the edge and Bones' body as Bones clutched at his thigh. It was uncomfortable at best, but... as he worked his head into the pillow, which was right around Bones' groin, he sighed.
So much for studying.
San Francisco, winter 2256
North Beach tended to attract the tourists, as it had for centuries. The quirky neighborhood had gone through several renovations, periods of highs and lows but its location made it a natural waypoint for people moving from one area of of San Francisco to another. Jim and Bones were common enough fixtures at a number of bars and pubs around the city, Kirk on a first-name basis with many of the bartenders and waitstaff and busboys that made up that close-knit community. As a rule, though, they tended to stay away from the more crowded areas, leaving them to the cadets and tourists...
...which is why Kirk was surprised when he got the call from the bartender at Roscoe's, a small bar all the way over in the North Beach area. They didn't usually head that far when they went looking for entertainment or alcohol, but Kirk recognized the name. It was exactly the type of bar Bones preferred when he wanted to get drunk - seedier, darkly-lit rooms that reeked of smoke and beer, quiet conversations in corners rather than boisterous boasting, pick-up lines, and fist fights.
The message was clear enough. "Your friend's here, and he's not looking too good. I don't know how he got here, but he's gonna need some help getting home."
Kirk stared down at the comm long after it went silent, just somewhere between surprised and absolutely shocked. That didn't sound like Bones at all. Bones would go out and get drunk on his own from time to time, but this was the first time a bar had ever called him specifically and said Bones was in bad shape. "Fuck." He whispered, and immediately went to pull on real clothing.
It was absolutely pouring when Kirk got to the bar, and thanks to his means of transport being a cycle, he was soaked to the bone. His hair dripped into his eyes as he pushed open the door to the tiny, quiet bar. Ancient faces lifted and studied him, some lingering and others dismissing, before they went back to their muttered conversations or silent drownings. Kirk barely noticed any of it as he just scanned the bar, looking for that familiar splash of red, or blue, or even the dark familiar eyes.
But Bones was sitting at the bar in a nondescript shirt and jeans. He was looking down at the bar, lost in thought, his right hand bringing a cigarette up to his mouth for a deep drag before tapping it against the ashtray in front of him. Kirk nearly had a minor heart attack when he caught sight of Bones, staring. Was Bones... smoking? Bones didn't smoke. Kirk had to be seeing things.
He walked through the quiet room and up to the bar. He moved right up beside Bones, caught the bartender's eye with practiced ease. His concern only grew when the look the bartender gave him was one of relief. "Beer, anything on tap." Kirk knew a bartender's memory, the man would know what he wanted. From the corner of his eye, he watched Bones' face.
It was a moment before Bones realized he knew the man sitting next to him. "Kid," he said slowly, as if surprised. "Fancy meeting you here." He watched as the bartender put a tall glass in front of Kirk. "Put't on my tab," Bones told him, pointing at the beer. The bartender glanced to Kirk, who shook his head and pointed to himself. The bartender nodded to Bones with one quick glance again at Kirk.
"Hey you." Kirk slid onto the stool next to Bones, folding his one leg in as he watched the drunken stoop that was his friend's posture. "Kinda surprised to find you here at all, specially without me." He kept his grin easy, knowing he'd have to talk Bones into spilling what had brought him here to drown his pain.
"One o'those days, Jimmy boy," Bones replied slow. "One o'those weeks, one o'those months... fuck, hasn't been much a year, to be truthful. But t'day was a fuckin' bad day and I wanted a drink." He looked back up at Kirk, forehead wrinkled. "Shoulda waited for you, 'sorry. Didn't think... hey, you're all wet," he added, chuckling a little at that.
Did he just really call me Jimmy boy? Kirk thought with a frown of displeasure. Man, he sounds like pure liquid Southern, if that's even possible. "Well talk to me," Kirk encouraged, getting his beer with a friendly tip of the glass in the bartender's direction. He took a sip, testing what he had been given, and took a long golden drink once he approved. He put the glass down onto a coaster and watched the first bead of sweat forming on the outside of the glass. "What sucked so much about today?"
"Lost a patient." Bones took another drag from his cigarette and then pushed the butt into the ashtray. "Not just a patient... Admiral Getty."
Shit. Why was Bones, of all people, working on someone like Admiral Getty? He was pretty sure he could remember Bones talking about the Admiral in the past, one of his professors. Some part of his brain was telling him that was right... the Getty had been teaching medical classes. Had he retired? Kirk was suddenly vaguely ticked off that he couldn't remember even though he had no reason to have known. "How did you end up in charge of that?" He asked quietly
"...'s on duty when he come in," Bones slurred in a quiet voice, lighting up another cigarette, offering one to Kirk, who waved it off. "Heart attack, wasn't nothin' t'do, really, just - make'em comfortable and call his family." Bones tapped on the bar, motioning the bartender toward him. "Gimme another one," he gruffed.
The bartender looked over at Kirk once then leaned in toward Bones. "Gonna give you one more, then that's it, doc, okay?"
Bones looked back at him with narrowed eyes, then back down at the glass. "...then make it a double."
Nothing could have been done, and Kirk was pretty sure that was half the problem. Bones would have wanted to give a fighting shot, but couldn't with something as stupid and simple as a heart attack. "I'll make sure he gets home." He assured the bartender. He could put Bones on the back of the bike and trust him to hold on, would just go slow through the rain.
Bones caught the little glance between the two men. "How'd ya know I's here?" he looked over at Kirk.
"I'm psychic. Thought you'd realized that by now." Kirk said easily, grinning in a tease. His voice softened somewhat as he spoke again, "Someone was worried 'bout ya."
Kirk was rewarded with a snort at that as Bones snuffed out his cigarette. "Yeah, okay." Pulling out his wallet, Bones dropped some money on the bar and finished his drink in one swallow. "Ready when you are." Sliding off the bar seat, he stood, shakily at first. While it might not have been as apparent while he was sitting at the bar talking, it was pretty clear once he began moving that he was far from sober. Kirk gave a grateful look to the bartender who just nodded. They came around often enough, he could deal with a tab for a short while.
With some effort, Kirk pulled Bones' arm around his shoulders. "Come on, out to my bike big boy. One step at a time, I'm holding ya."
It took far, far longer then it should have to get Bones out, but Kirk was even more grateful no one tried to help or even looked twice at them. "Remember how to ride this girl?" He asked, wanting to keep Bones talking.
But Bones didn't answer, not responding to any of Kirk's questions, trying to pretend as if he wasn't depending on his younger friend to just make it out the door. Frowning at the help, he stood outside, looking at the bike. "When the fuck did it start raining?"
"Dunno, I was warm in my room. Come on, on the bike, right here." Kirk patted the seat, then helped Bones onto it. It was like trying to arrange a sack of rice that could move, but in the end Kirk managed to get Bones behind him, arms wrapped tight around him in the soaking rain. "You have to hang on. Promise me you won't let go of me for anything."
He still didn't answer, but Bones listened to Kirk's words and silently obeyed, holding onto Kirk as tight as he could, feeling the rain pelting his head and back as they slowly took off down the road. Kirk took his time getting back to their dorms, ignoring the sting of rain in his eyes. He could feel Bones put his head down on his shoulder, probably getting just as beat by the stinging rain but even worse. At least his leather coat was protecting his arms and torso.
When they got back, Kirk slipped his cycle into its customary spot (it wasn't really a spot, but it kept her nice and protected and no one had complained yet). He levered Bones off the bike, looking skyward as lightning made the pitch-dark night light up as bright as day. Man, it's bad tonight. Kirk ended up staggering into the wall when Bones stumbled and dropped all his weight downwards, but managed to keep them both upright even as his shoulder throbbed in complaint from hitting the wall. He thumbed the lift button and forced them both into the too-bright interior of it where they dripped on the floor. Bones' silence worried him, a lot.
The silence continued into their rooms where Kirk dropped Bones into his desk chair and knelt in front of him, not saying anything himself as he started to pull off Bones' boots.
Bones' eyes were almost closed as he swayed a little in his chair. Suddenly they snapped open, looking down, dark and hard at Kirk. "Cut it out," he said roughly, pulling back, unsteady even in his chair. "... can fuckin' do it m'self," as he turned away from his friend. Pulling his sopping wet shirt off, he threw it on the ground next to his desk.
Glancing down at Kirk, hair soaked, Bones muttered, "... gonna get sick, all wet like that."
"You can be a fucking bastard when you're drunk. Just trying to help." Kirk got up, muttering about Bones being ungrateful, and started shrugging out of his wet clothing and shoving it into the laundry chute. He didn't stop until he was nude, then walked across the room and into the bathroom to grab a towel for them both. He flung one at Bones, mostly expecting it to just flop on him.
Bones let the towel hit him, then he began awkwardly drying his hair. Glaring as Kirk stomped around the room, he stood on unsteady feet and began taking off his own pants. He'd managed to get them halfway down his legs before Bones lost his balance and stumbled forward, falling hard right onto the floor. "Fuck," he muttered, grabbing at his knee. "Dammit."
"And now you know why I was helping." Kirk shook his head as he walked over, kneeling and giving a hard shove on Bones' chest to get him to fall backwards. It didn't take much effort. He grabbed Bones' jeans at the waistline and just pulled them down along with his underwear, giving a surprisingly accurate toss of the heavy material into the laundry chute where it hung on the edge.
"Fuck, careful," Bones groaned, rolling over and trying to protect his kneecap. Once on the ground, he looked up at the ceiling and at Kirk, looking down at him with a sort of angry concern in his eyes. Pulling himself up to his hands, Bones crawled over to his bed and leaned his head against it, closing his eyes. Kirk just rolled his eyes and followed Bones, using the towel to finish drying Bones off without too much groping involved, then hooked an arm under the doctor and levered him up onto the bed.
"For you, sleep. I'll make sure you have something for a hangover." Kirk sat on the edge of the bed, still nude. He never gave a damn about his state of undress which usually got them into arguments.
But Bones hadn't even noticed their state of dress (or undress) and even if he had, was too drunk to care. Laying back on the bed, he looked over at Kirk sleepily and reached for his arm, giving it a squeeze. "... thanks, Jim," he murmured, not letting go of the arm.
Kirk gave a little smile, "When I wake up with a cold, then you can play doctor all over again." His tone was almost affectionate as he went to get up, but the grip on his arm kept him in place. "Need something else?" He asked softly, knowing Bones needed to sleep this shit off more then anything.
"Don't want no more days like t'day," Bones grumbled in a low voice, slurring his words a little, unaware of how tight he was still holding onto Kirk's arm. "...you see whatcha can do 'bout that, 'kay?"
"I'll get on that." Kirk murmured, feeling his arm throb under Bones' grip. Gonna bruise. He thought with a sigh. "Just relax." He reached up and tousled the dark, wet strands of hair.
"...'kay." Closing his eyes as the fingers ran through his hair, Bones relaxed his grip on Kirk's arm. "Sorry you hadda come get me... don't get sick."
"I'm gonna go take a hot shower so I don't. Not going anywhere tonight, I have a test in the morning." Kirk looked over to their schedule, hanging on the wall, scribbled on and messy. "...you don't have anything until one."
Bones shook his head as he leaned back into the pillow. "... told me not t'come in 'morrow." Not after what happened today...
Kirk wondered if Bones even could hear himself talking aloud, "Okay. Probably better that way. I'll swing by your classes and get your stuff. Just get some rest, I'll put the hypo on the sidetable." He risked glancing down at his elbow and kept back a curse at the dark marks already forming.
"Gotta talk t'my advisor," Bones continued on, talking to no one in particular, yawning loudly. "Hmm, try not t'get kicked outta program." He closed his eyes, snorting to himself, as if this was funny.
"You won't. You did everything you could." Kirk stood up and squeezed Bones' arm before walking across the room towards the bathroom. He would pull on some real clothing against the rain and he'd make sure he was right about his own words.
"Not that. 's what happened after..." Still naked, Bones turned over to his side, wrapping his arms around his pillow. His backside was facing Kirk, making it harder for Kirk to hear him. "Fucked up with the family."
Kirk looked back (...fuck, why did Bones have to have such a nice ass? It was distracting...) and licked his lips, "What... what do you mean? What happened?" he asked in the quiet between them. The rain poured against the window like a background of white noise.
"Hmmm." For a moment Kirk wondered if Bones had fallen asleep until he heard the next part. "Didn't say g'bye... shoulda let'm see his dad." Clutching at the sheets on his bed, Bones pulled at them, managing to get his legs covered.
Oh no. Kirk walked back across their room and grabbed the edge of the sheets to tug them up over Bones' body. "...His son?" Kirk asked softly as he sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at Bones and trying to avoid pressing against that now covered backside.
"Didn't see it... didnt' watch it, good that. Hard watchin' that. Fuckin' useless."
"Then you didn't fuck up." Kirk murmured, stroking back Bones' hair again, "You're not useless. There's a lot of people that owe their life to you. ...Me too."
Bones went quiet again, then flipped his body over, facing Kirk, one arm coming to land over Kirk's leg. Taking deep breaths, he pressed his face into his pillow. "Dad," he mumbled, then frowned.
"Dad?" Kirk asked quietly, "What about him?"
A long shuddering breath. "Hmmm... fucked that up too."
He had a very, very bad feeling about this, "How did you fuck that up?" Kirk knew that Bones' parents were both dead, gotten from little tidbits over the months, but not anything about how they had passed on.
Bones didn't answer, not in words. Instead his face crumbled, eyes closed tight as he heaved a long, shuddering sob into the pillow. His entire body tensed as he shook, a tear sliding slowly down the crease of his nose to land on the pillow. Kirk's eyes went wide in surprise, and he bit hard into his lower lip. Crying was always really, really awkward at best. He hesitated, glancing around the room as if looking for a better option, then looked back down at Bones. He flexed his hand once, then cautiously laid it on the other man's back. The skin was warm, and now he could feel the faint shuddering beneath his palm.
Did he have something to do with his Dad's death? Bones was... how old was Bones? Kirk had to think about it, and decided to roughly pin him at about twenty-nine, maybe thirty. Almost a decade separated them, but they found a friendship in each other they had no where else. Maybe because they were both outcasts in their own way. Kirk let out a breath out through his nose and started to rub Bones' back slowly, not knowing what to say and not sure he needed to say anything at all.
A few minutes later and Bones was quiet again, but for the deep breaths out of his mouth. The arm around Kirk's leg tightened, pulling himself closer until his face rested against Jim's thigh, mumbling unintelligible sounds into the long muscle of Kirk's leg, and sighing deeply. Kirk's shoulders slumped, First time I've had a hot guy like this who--- He forced himself to stop thinking that thought. Instead, he shifted the best he could with Bones holding onto him like a child after a nightmare. He grabbed for a pillow and put it on the bed, laying backwards on the thin spot left between the edge and Bones' body as Bones clutched at his thigh. It was uncomfortable at best, but... as he worked his head into the pillow, which was right around Bones' groin, he sighed.
So much for studying.