Fic: Don't kill yourself! Just stick it! - Monday, 30 July 2012 (chapter 2/6)
Title: Don’t kill yourself! Just stick it! - Monday, 30 July 2012 (Chapter 2/6)
Beta: dizilla and aquila_star
Rating: NC17 (overall)
Word Count: 8,511 (43,000 overall)
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/McCoy (unrequited), Uhura/Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Cupcake & Mitchell
Warnings: AU - olympic gymnastics
Disclaimer: Not mine, dammit!
Summary: What to do when you discover that a vital part of your team is missing? The show must always go on, especially at the biggest show on earth.
Chapter 1 here and Chapter 2 on AO3 here.
Jim opened up his email account as he leaned back on the couch, his feet resting on the low coffee table in front of him. When he woke, Bones wasn’t in the apartment. He obviously had been called out for a meeting or something. Jim had logged into his emails earlier to see what the plans were for the day, but there had been no email from Pike, which was a little unusual. There still was no email waiting for him and he thought that maybe they were still sorting out some media stuff, as there was likely to be a promo or two he and the others would be involved in. All in all it was still pretty unusual.
Instead, Jim showered, checked again for messages but found no new ones, and took himself off to get breakfast. Every time he went into the dining hall he shook his head, a McDonalds restaurant in the official athletes village was a weird thing, but money ruled all sport, even the Olympics.
There was still no email when he returned back to the room and also, still no Bones.
It was half an hour later when the concern that was starting to fly around Jim’s mind was not helped by the expression on Bones’ face when he finally came back into their apartment.
“What is it?” Jim asked, as Bones dropped his tag and phone on the coffee table.
“Hmm?” Bones asked, not looking at Jim.
“Why don’t we have an email ordering our lives around?”
“You’ll get one soon.” Bones was walking toward the bathroom.
“Bones, I know something is up.”
Bones stopped as Jim spoke, resting a hand on the wall and dropping his head down.
“Dammit Jim, why are you so observant when we never want you to be?”
“One of my many talents.”
Bones just snorted in reply.
Jim watched for a moment, waiting to see if Bones would say anything further, but he didn’t.
“Spill, Bones,” Jim ordered.
Bones sighed and walked back to sit on the couch next to Jim. The ding of an email notification distracted Jim for a moment, and he saw that it was about the day’s schedule.
“It’s from Spock,” Jim said, looking at Bones to see if he knew why it wasn’t from Pike as per usual.
Bones took another breath and continued to look at Jim with a serious expression on his face. Jim knew that something was seriously up.
“Pike’s missing,” Bones said.
“What?” Jim couldn’t help that his voice had a slightly squeaky quality, before he held up a hand to stop Bones speaking further. Already, issues were running back and forth in his mind. “When was he seen last? Spock can step up but we need another coach on the floor. You can say that he is ill. What about the Chef de Mission? Do they know? Have you checked with Number One? Of course you have, you aren’t stupid. He was still at the venue when we left last night. If he came back here, he would have been logged in with security.”
“Who died and made you captain?” Bones asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’ve got a final to be concentrating on today. Look at Spock’s email and leave finding Pike to us.”
“Dude, c’mon, like I can think about that at the moment?” Jim asked rhetorically. “Where’s Spock?”
“Jim, read the goddamn email and leave the team organization up to us.”
Jim glared at Bones, before doing as he was told. It was just the standard timelines and orders for a day of competition, nothing mentioned about Pike.
“Do the others know?” Jim asked.
The look from Bones said it all.
“I can keep my mouth shut,” Jim said.
Up went Bones’ eyebrow to express his disbelief eloquently.
“I can,” Jim grumbled almost under his breath as he stared at his laptop screen again, hoping that a solution might come to him about where Pike may be.
“Of course not, dumbass. Just make sure you keep that motor-mouth of yours shut for a bit longer. Spock’s as confused as the rest of us. He didn’t check back into the village last night and I think the police should be informed. Spock’s all about not alerting the rest of the competition we are without our Head Coach. T’Pring and Number One have backed him up.” Bones shook his head, obviously annoyed at not being listened to.
A memory came back to Jim, the ‘discussion’ between Pike and the Romanian Head Coach.
“Where’s Spock?” he asked.
“What, Jim?” Bones asked back.
“Remembered something,” Jim said as he stood up quickly and grabbed his jacket, while pushing his sneakers onto his feet at the same time.
Bones stood up and grabbed his phone and tag, putting the tag around his neck. He tossed Jim’s tag at him and pressed a number on his phone.
“Spock, where are you?” Bones asked, and then waited for a reply.
“Really? Jim and I’ll be there in a minute. Jim’s got some information that might be of use.” Bones waved at Jim to follow him as he walked out of the room and headed over to the elevator. Jim checked the door was closed securely before he followed Bones to the elevator.
“He’s not an idiot and, no, I didn’t just ‘spill the beans’!” Bones rolled his eyes at Jim, obviously annoyed at whatever Spock had said.
Jim tried to hide his smile. Bones and Spock were renowned for their regular spats, although Spock liked to call them ‘disagreements on logic’, which always ended with Bones grumbling to Jim about, ‘logic, my ass!’
Jim looked at Bones in query, noting that he had pressed the button for Gaila’s and Uhura’s floor. Bones just had a set expression on his face and kept his lips slightly pursed as a way to not reply to Jim.
“Fine,” Jim said, leaning back against the wall for the short trip up. It only took a minute and the doors opened. Bones walked out first and turned in the direction of a room that Jim was very familiar with.
Sure enough, Bones knocked on the door to the apartment that Gaila and Uhura were sharing. Spock opened the door and gestured them both in.
Uhura was sitting on the couch in the living space.
“Seems I’m not the only one to be talking,” Bones muttered in Spock’s direction.
“Ms. Uhura was at the venue later than us, as such I was ascertaining if she had any further information to impart that may assist us,” Spock said in his dry tone.
“God dammit man! Can’t you just use five words instead of twenty-five?”
“There were twenty-six words, Dr. McCoy,” Spock replied.
Bones threw his hands up in exasperation. “Jim tell him whatever it was that you remembered.”
Jim knew he needed to speak, otherwise it would turn into World War Three with the worry affecting the normal antagonistic natures of a Bones-Spock conversation.
“When we left last night, Pike was over in the far corner of the gym with the Romanian Head Coach. Their discussion didn’t look at all friendly, and there were some looks from the teams sitting near them. The Canadian girls might be able to help you out with what the discussion was about, they were the closest.”
“Nyota?” Spock asked.
“I wouldn’t be much help, they aren’t too fond of me at the moment, but Gaila’s brother is the coach of a couple of them. I could get her to ask?”
Spock nodded. “The less people we involve in this disappearance the better, but I shall converse with T’Pring.”
“I still say we need to tell the authorities, at the very least,” Bones interjected.
“What and cause an international incident at the Olympics? Let alone put all the media attention on the team while we are trying to win a medal?” Jim pointed out.
“Jim, a man’s life could be in danger!” Bones had moved away from the wall and, in typical Bones fashion, had raised his voice as he got closer to Jim.
“Yeah, I got that, Bones. But until we get more information, they won’t thank us for causing an incident.”
“Damn right it’s an incident! The Head Coach of the U.S. Men’s team goes missing while at the London Olympics. No, that’s not of a concern to anyone!”
“It is indeed of great concern, Dr. McCoy, but until we have any further information, it is best to err on the side of caution. The appropriate people have been notified, but we have agreed to maintain keeping the information quiet. Information is being put about that Captain Pike is ill and being isolated from the team as a precaution. You will be asked for information, and I have been asked to ascertain that you are able to provide a diagnosis that will not be queried.”
Jim watched carefully to see if he needed to back Spock up and convince Bones that this was the right thing to do. Bones was mulling it over, with a glare directed at Spock.
“Fine,” Bones eventually bit out. “Tell them he has a virus and is being isolated as a precaution until we get results from the tests back. I’m registering my protest though.”
“Duly noted, doctor,” Spock said, before turning toward Uhura. “Are you sure you did not see Captain Pike speaking with that Romanian?”
“No, I was with the others. I only saw Pike going to the other training gym. I didn’t see him after that. Although...” Uhura looked at Jim as she spoke. “I did see Nero talking with some people outside that I thought looked like they weren’t part of any team. They were near a car that wasn’t an official vehicle. Staying well away from everyone else. There was a van parked there as well, I think, but it was dark.”
“Did they look dodgy?” Jim asked, as another memory snapped at him.
“They looked like you when we first met you at Riverside.” Uhura smiled at him.
“Dodgy then,” Jim smirked back at her. “I remember from late last week seeing those guys hanging around outside and talking with the other Romanians. Not the normal gymnastics groupies. We should look into them,” Jim said.
“Mr. Kirk, you have a competition to prepare for,” Spock told him.
“Spock, I know what these guys look like,” Jim protested.
“So does Ms. Uhura,” Spock pointed out.
“This is a bit of a leap in logic, even for you Spock,” Bones said.
“Indeed not, doctor. Nero has been very public in his disapproval of my father’s defection from Romania to the United States. They were contemporaries for a time and he blames the success of the United States program on my father and by extension, myself. Are you able to look into those gentlemen for me, Nyota? Stay away from Nero though, he is a particularly emotional Romanian who would appreciate any way he could cause harm to a member of this team.”
“I still say it’s a tenuous theory at best,” Bones said.
“Duly noted. Now Jim, you have a bus to catch, shortly.” Spock looked at his watch before continuing. “I suggest you return to your room and collect your gear. Doctor, please accompany me to discuss the plan with other officials.”
Bones shook his head, before he said, “Fine,” and started to walk out of the room.
“Spock,” Jim said quietly, making Spock pause next to him. “We need to keep him on the floor with us. Bones is...”
“Too emotional,” Spock observed before nodding at Jim’s suggestion. “Two officials are required on the competition floor, I shall inform Dr. McCoy of his increase in duties tonight, if Captain Pike does not reappear.”
“Good. See you at the bus. Uhura, good luck. We need Pike back.”
“We’ll find him,” she said.
Jim smiled. “Hell hath no fury like a woman and all that.”
oOo
It had been a tricky afternoon, keeping the concentration up while the worry was nagging at the back of his mind. Gaila had done her work superbly; the conversation between Pike and Nero had definitely been antagonistic and had involved a threat from Nero. Uhura had less success, but others had seen the same group hanging around the Romanians and especially Nero. One of the Russian team had even said they thought that they were family to Nero.
Questions had been raised amongst the U.S. team about Pike’s absence, but Jim, much to Bones’ apparent disbelief, was able to stick to the story. With all the little conversations Jim had with Bones and Spock away from the team during warm-up, Jim found himself being asked if he was taking Spock’s place as Assistant Coach by his fellow teammates. They had talked about Number One coming in to help as well, but one look was enough to give that idea short shrift. It was up to the girls to keep the search for Pike going while the team searched after gold.
Spock had listened to Jim’s suggestions about the competition politely and Jim had been hard pressed not to express his shock when Spock agreed with most of them. Bones was reported to the IOC officials as being the second U.S. coach, due to Captain Pike’s ‘illness’. Jim could only look in shock as it was accepted.
“That’s weird,” Jim said as the officials walked away.
“Mr. Kirk, Dr. McCoy does have the necessary qualifications and under the circumstances the IOC have approved our request.”
“He’s a doctor, not a coach,” Jim said as he pointed at Bones.
“Actually, Jim...” Bones said.
“No way!”
“If I was gonna do my job properly then it might help if I knew what stupidity the coaches were gonna try and get y’all to do,” Bones said.
“What’s going on?” Sulu asked as he wandered over.
“Bones is apparently our coach for this evening,” Jim said.
“Mr. Kirk, it would be beneficial if you were to commence your warm up and leave the imparting of information to those whose job it is,” Spock said.
Jim was tempted to poke his tongue out at Spock, but at the look from Bones, he decided against it and obeyed the instruction.
“Whatever,” he said as he walked away with Sulu.
oOo
A little later, Jim could see that Bones was close to saying something the team didn’t need to hear, so Jim wandered over toward him and looked in the direction of the treatment room. Bones took the hint, picked up his med kit and followed Jim to the little room. Jim hopped up on the bed and waited for Bones to close the door. A little tick on Bones’ cheek was telling Jim everything he needed to know about Bones’ state of mind. He knew Bones so well that anyone else, even Pike, wouldn’t have picked up on it. They would have concentrated on Bones’ silence, which was unusual in itself, but the tick was telling Jim that an explosion was very imminent.
“What, Jim?” Bones asked as he opened up the kit he had placed on the bed next to Jim.
Jim looked down at Bones’ bowed head, the fluorescent light shining on the deep chestnut of Bones’ hair. Jim wanted to reach out and touch it and try and calm Bones’ down, but while he and Bones were pretty handsy as friends, that was a bit more intimate than they had ever been together.
“What’s wrong?” Bones continued.
“Nothing,” Jim replied.
Bones looked up, the furrow between his eyes appearing as he was confused by Jim’s reply.
“What?” Bones bit out, now looking angry.
“You need to yell. Do it at me and not out there,” Jim said.
Bones glared at Jim, the tick now speeded up, but while Jim thought Bones might yell now, he surprised him. Bones zipped up his med kit and started to walk toward the door.
“Running away, Bones? That’s unlike you,” Jim said, knowing that he had to keep Bones in the room.
Bones hit his hand on the door and leaned his head down as he swore under his breath. Jim slid off the bed and put his hand on Bones’ shoulder.
“Bones,” Jim said.
“This has to be one of the stupidest decisions I have ever had to be a part of.” Bones managed to finally get out the words that Jim knew had been building up in him since they had left Uhura’s apartment.
Bones turned around and leaned in close to Jim’s face.
“And you!” Bones poked Jim in the chest. “You are going along with this. A man’s life is in danger and all you lot can think about is a god damn gymnastics competition!”
“No we aren’t. We are thinking about Pike, those of us that know anyway. What can we do? Would Pike want us to drop everything for him? Hell no and you know it,” Jim retorted. He needed to get Bones to vent out all his hang ups and then to calm down and get on the same page.
Bones growled at Jim’s response, no pithy saying or comeback reply but he still expressed his annoyance in his own way.
“It’s still wrong. A man’s missing for christ’s sake! And no one is doing anything,” Bones said, once more poking Jim in the chest.
Jim had had enough with the poking. He already had some decent bruises from training and he didn’t need another one on his chest. Jim grabbed Bones’ hand and glared right back at the man.
“We are doing things. Sure we haven’t gone to the cops, but that would make things so much worse. You, me and Spock are the only ones that know out there that know. Can you imagine the panic if everyone else knew? Pike’s spent most of his life training gymnasts for moments like this. He found you and he found me and gave us a chance when no one else would. I don’t want to let him down.” Jim had let go of Bones’ hand and brought both his hands up to cradle Bones’ face, to make sure Bones wasn’t going to look anywhere but at him. “You know exactly what everyone has sacrificed out there and you’ve done the same. I need you to be you. I know you are worried, and so am I, but I can’t do what Pike would want, if I don’t have you there.”
For a long moment he and Jim just stared at each other. Jim tried desperately to put into his eyes every concern he had, but also his resolution that this was the path they were taking and no amount of argument from Bones was going to change it. Jim felt Bones’ skin under his fingers and with little movements of his thumbs he could feel exactly how close Bones had shaved today. Bones’ aftershave, a light but slightly spicy smell, was teasing at Jim’s senses. He’d been close to Bones before and knew his preference but there was just something about it now, standing so close to each other.
Finally Bones lowered his eyes and nodded his head slightly.
“I mean, really, man. Would you prefer me to be running around London trying to find him?” Jim asked with a little smile on his face.
Bones huffed out a laugh as he shook his head, still not looking up at Jim. Jim could see the smile in reply on Bones’ face, the little upturn of his lips that caused the mole on his right cheek to move a little higher.
“Hell no. The patching up I would have to do after that is not worth it,” Bones said before turning back to the door.
“Bones--,” Jim started to say, reaching out a hand to almost touch Bones on the shoulder.
Bones stopped, with his hand on the door knob. “I know. You can tell Spock I’m fine.”
“I’m just...I’m concerned too. I just...” For once Jim wasn’t as sure about what to say. He knew he had a silver tongue and a comeback for every situation, but now, after feeling the concern from Bones, from being so close to him, he had this feeling that he needed to be closer.
“I know, Jim. See you back out there,” Bones said as he turned the door handle.
“It’s what friends are for,” Jim said. “You needed to yell and what better person to yell at than me?” Jim had dropped his hand down by his side, initially unsure if to put them on his hips or leave them as they were.
“Pike is all about ‘practice makes perfect’ and I sure do practice a lot in your direction.” Jim could hear the smile in Bones’ voice as he spoke, his back still to Jim.
Bones opened the door, bringing them both back to reality and the pressure of a whole nation’s expectations, but more importantly, the expectations of the one man who wasn’t there.
oOo
Jim took a quick glance at the scoreboard as the scores for Pavel‘s final vault flashed up. It wasn’t bad, but could have been better. Jim knew exactly what vaults the other competitors had been doing and if you played it safe they had been judging them just as safe, but something with a bit of risk was getting a preference from the judges. Jim did a quick glance at the three on this side-- an Australian, a Hungarian and a Brazilian. It was almost the perfect start to a joke, but this apparatus wasn’t to be laughed at. Serious injuries had been caused, even with the change of the vault shape to help against that and certain vaults being outlawed. Frank had been adamant that the first apparatus Jim had needed to master was vault and as much as he hated that prick, he was glad that his fears were faced head on and early.
His dad had died doing a vault that very few attempted. Why he had changed his second vault to it at that Olympics, no one knew, though many tried to guess. Frank had ‘opinions’ about it that he liked to share regularly with Jim, especially that it was Jim’s fault. His Dad didn’t have his mind on the ‘game’, he was too focussed on the fact that his wife was in labor; were two of Frank’s regular comments about that moment.
Jim stared at the ‘tongue’-- the metal, plastic and faux leather curved monster of many people’s nightmares. It wasn’t going to beat him today. He was determined not to let it. All around him there were quiet conversations going on between officials, between coaches and their athletes, and also the crowd. He ignored them all, just focussing on the apparatus. His first vault was a 7.2 difficulty and his next was a 7.0. They were in front, but if they could get the extra .2, it would be like a 100 meter sprinter breaking his opponent’s spirit 50 m from the finishing line.
He had been training the Kobayashi Maru - a full-twisting Tsukahara double back, for the past few years. Pike had initially been resistant about Jim training for it, but when he discovered that Jim was attempting it in the gym with no supervision, he had gotten really pissed. A few ‘discussions’ between them later and Pike had allowed Jim to work on it under his eye, once he knew that Frank had laid out the groundwork during Jim’s formative years in gymnastics. It wasn’t something that they did when the others were in the gym and especially not if Bones was around. Jim and Pike would never have heard the end of it and they both knew it without having to speak of it.
His mind made up, Jim walked toward Spock to speak to him quietly, away from the rest of the team.
“We need a bigger buffer, right?” Jim asked.
“It would be beneficial,” Spock replied as he made a few notes on the clipboard that was never far from his hands while he was on a competition floor.
“What about two 7.2 vaults?” Jim asked, not looking at Spock but still at the vault where Sulu was checking the mark of his run up.
“Successfully completed those would be unmatched in any competition and would indeed provide a substantial lead on the competition.”
“So can I?” Jim asked as Sulu took off down the mat to attack his first vault.
Neither Jim nor Spock saw Sulu’s vault, as Spock said the name that Jim had been thinking of for the past few minutes and possibly for his whole life.
“The Kobayashi Maru.”
The cheer from the crowd behind them distracted them both from their little staring contest to glance instead at Sulu who had successfully landed his vault, if his reaction was anything to go by.
The score which flashed up as Sulu waited, down the end of the mat again, was okay for what he had done. Jim could see Pavel standing up and yelling encouragement. His second vault was a little more difficult and as Pavel started on the chant of Sulu’s name, Jim joined in, flashing a smile at Sulu.
“Stick it!” Jim yelled out as Sulu nodded at him and Spock, Bones having put up the difficulty score for the judges.
Up went the flag and Sulu was taking off once again, legs striding out as he built up speed closer to the springboard.
“Woo!” Jim yelled as Sulu landed, sticking it solidly, just as Jim had told him to do.
“Tell you what,” Jim said to Spock as he headed in the direction of the steps up to the run up. “I nail the first one to your satisfaction, you let me do it on the second.”
Spock looked up from where he was moving the marker for Jim’s run-up.
“You know I can do it. Pike would have told you I’ve been training it. No guts, no glory, and Pike woulda let me do it,” Jim said.
“Emotional blackmail is beneath you, Mr. Kirk,” Spock replied before admitting, “I have indeed seen the training tapes.”
“So? Deal? If you’re happy with the first one, I get to do it on the second?”
“Concentrate on your initial vault, Mr. Kirk,” Spock said as he walked down to speak to Bones.
Jim knew he only had 30 seconds once that flag went up. He gave a little shake of his shoulders, feeling all his muscles come into play, a quick stretch out of the arms, feeling the lock in his shoulders and the give in his elbows he would need. Jim put a little chalk on his hands, gave a gentle clap to dislodge the excess and then he moved to his run up place, double checking the marker before looking back at the vault and the red tongue waiting for him.
The flag went up and with one deep breath, that he held for just for a moment and felt the perfection of the flight, before he let the breath out as he took off. Down the mat the vault loomed larger in his vision and then it and the springboard were there, for him to use and do what he was born to do. The slap of the springboard as he hit it at full speed, followed by the slap of his hands resounding in the air on the table as he saw the chalk fly, before he was in the air with a push. His movements were controlled and tight, twisting at the right time, around and then spotting the mat with the landing strips waiting for him below. He extended out, body tight and with a small bend as his feet connected with the mat, sinking in as every muscle screamed out in his body to just take another little jump. Jim didn’t let them win, absorbed the pain and held that landing for all he was worth before straightening up and grinning at the stadium at large.
The grin was still on his face as he presented to the judges and jogged over where Spock was standing near Bones.
“Nice one, Jim,” Bones said.
“Deal, Spock?” Jim asked, knowing that he had only about 30 seconds to convince Spock. “No fault in that one and you know my mind’s on it. Want me to do a vault I am not prepared for?”
Spock stared at Jim for a moment with his calm way that unnerved most gymnasts, and even a whole lot of judges.
“Dr. McCoy, change that to a 7.2 difficulty,” Spock said as he walked over to adjust Jim’s run up marker.
“Atta boy, Spock. Time to kick some ass!”
“What?” Bones asked.
“Mr. Kirk will be doing the Kobayashi Maru as his second vault.”
“Oh, hell no!” Bones growled out, starting to walk toward Jim.
“Too late Bones, Spock decided. It’ll be fine, trust me,” Jim said, grinning down at Bones from his position up on the podium, trying to convince him through that little speech that every worry that was in Bones’ head wouldn’t come to pass. Jim backed away and gave Bones a thumbs up before jogging to the end, and smiling at Spock who had correctly marked his run up for the vault. Pike had indeed been telling Spock what Jim had been practicing.
Bones had followed him down to the end.
“For Christ’s sake, Jim,” Bones hissed out, trying to keep his voice down a bit but his whole body language had the rest of the team watching the interaction and obviously wondering what was going on. Jim looked up to see the 7.2 difficulty on the scoreboard, so Bones had done that part of his job at least.
“It’ll be fine, Bones,” Jim said as he held up his hand to stall any more of Bones’ complaints. He could almost feel the concern radiating off of Bones. It had been a long time since someone had cared as much about Jim’s well being as Bones did.
If Jim had the time, he would have loved to have convinced Bones, but the flag went up-- the judges were ready for him and Jim focussed on the vault table ahead and not the distracting man at his right.
He took a breath in and he held it a little longer as Bones spoke again, shocking him slightly.
“Don’t kill yourself! Just stick it!”
In all their time together, at Nationals, Worlds, and now here at the Olympics, Bones had never used that particular gymnastic terminology before. He was always a doctor first.
If Bones wanted him to stick it, Jim was gonna stick it!
He let the breath out, feeling the slight give in the mat under his feet, springboard in the right place and a nod from Spock.
He presented and then was off, pushing harder than for the previous vault. His world came down to the apparatus in front of him, the sounds of his breathing and his feet on the runway. He performed a handspring with half twist onto the vault from the springboard and the little bend in his elbows ensured he pushed off with as much maximum height as he could get. He tucked in straight away, but not too tight as that would only increase the rotations too fast and cause him to have no control over them. Everything in gymnastics was about control. Keeping his hands near his knees, not touching as he completed his first back tuck and then bringing them up and crossing over his chest as he started to twist on the final one.
Looming out of the blur of the rotation was the ground, coming up to meet him faster than a punch from a pissed off boyfriend or girlfriend who was objecting to Jim’s interest in their other half.
“Don’t fall forward, don’t fall forward,” he repeated to himself as the straightened out of the tuck just enough, flexing his feet ready to land and then he did.
If the last vault had been hard to hold and not hop out of, this one was worse. Higher and faster on his rotations, his body was screaming for just a little hop. He held his place, bent over and arms straight out, slowly moving his body back, hips first and then up to straighten. A triumphant smile was on his face as he stared at the vault just a meter or so in front of him. He had won, he had beaten it and as he raised his arms up, the rush of the roar from the crowd invaded his ears.
A turn, a little smirk of a smile now at the judges with his final present, as if to say ‘go ahead, deduct this!’ Then he turned toward his team.
He saw Spock first, arms crossed and clipboard tucked in neatly against his chest, not marring the stiff-backed posture that was such a part of him. He gave a little nod of approval, not even a grin as Jim jumped down and gave him a slap on his shoulder as he walked past.
“See, told ya,” Jim said, his grin now wide enough that he could feel the muscles pulling tight on his cheeks. Nothing was gonna wipe that grin from his face.
Before he could pull his arm fully away from Spock’s shoulder he was enveloped in a hug from Sulu, a huge grin on his face as well.
“You fucking idiot!” Sulu said into his ear as Jim laughed and hugged him right back.
“Hey, it was brilliant!” Jim countered.
Sulu just leaned back, breaking the hug and pushed Jim playfully on the side of the head.
“Brilliant and insane as only James T. Kirk can do!” Sulu replied.
Pavel was shaking his head side to side, his eyes wide in amazement. Jim held up his hand for a high five and found himself pulled into another tight hug instead. A few slaps on his back and even one or two not so soft on his head and he strongly suspected who was responsible for that. They were a tight little group in their excitement and Jim looked around for Bones so he could tell him he had listened. He had stuck it and hadn’t died.
Jim’s smile dropped a little to see Bones still standing by the stairs where Jim had left him, his arms were crossed like Spock’s had been but the look on his face was as stony as Jim had ever seen it. Bones wasn’t pleased and it was all Jim’s fault. Bones needed to trust him better, Jim had never needed someone to trust him as much as he needed Bones to. All the babbling that was going on around him, the excitement he could almost literally feel, was tempered by Bones’ silence. Jim hadn’t died, just as Bones had told him not to. He had pulled off a vault that hadn’t been seen successfully in competition, ever. No one would ever take that from him, yet Bones seemed to disapprove of it.
Jim didn’t have time to consider it any more as there was another roar, even more deafening than when he had landed the vault. Someone spun him around toward the scoreboard.
They had their buffer, a big buffer, just as he had planned.
Jim laughed, elated with all the emotions around. He turned back to the crowd and pumped up his fists in the air, causing another round of cheers, before Spock walked behind him and brought him right back down to earth.
“Next rotation gentlemen,” Spock said quietly, never having to raise his voice to get everyone to listen. It was a talent Jim was trying to figure out how to do it himself. Pike was another who had the skill, although sometimes he did use a piercing whistle to pull his rowdy gymnasts into line.
Jim walked back over to his bag, his path bringing him closer to Bones who was walking back to the team area of the line of chairs.
“Hey Bones,” Jim greeted him.
All he received was a quick flash of Bones’ eyes and a, “Just don’t, Jim,” before Bones was walking past him.
Jim hid his disappointment, knowing that there were cameras all around, listening in and recording almost every conversation and movement going on on the competition floor, except anything to do with judging of course. Those were no-go areas.
A heavy feeling settled in his heart and a long ago conversation with his mom came to mind, one of the few times Jim heard her talk about his Dad. The pain in her voice had been palpable and yet the love was still there, even after all those years and knowing how much Jim looked like his Dad. He knew it would have been hard for her to see him everyday, being a constant reminder of the day she lost her husband. Bones’ silent treatment felt a little like what his Mom had expressed that day.
From where Jim was bent down over his bag he took a quick glance at Bones and there was that little flicker he had been feeling the past couple of days whenever he had seen Bones. Just like a first crush, the connection was so unexpected that Jim paused completely in what he was doing. Shocked that he might have a crush on Bones, his best friend. Jim tried to think of what else it could be, but Gaila’s comments about Bones’ attractiveness after Qualifyings and Jim’s own thoughts seemed to be converging right back to crush.
Jim didn’t have time to ponder it too much as he was slapped on the back, close to his ass, by Mitchell, effectively telling him to stop dawdling and get in line with the rest of the team, ready to move to the next rotation. He had to try and get Bones out of his head. They had a medal to win.
oOo
Jim had never been as on edge at a competition as he was that evening. It had been close through every apparatus, with the Japanese edging ahead on the second apparatus. After a strong performance from Pavel on pommels, as well as Jim and Sulu nailing their routines to the best of their abilities, they had kept just ahead until vault, when Jim had got the audience on their feet and Bones to stop talking to him. They were now waiting for the final rotation to start and Jim had taken a seat next to Bones on the little plastic chairs for the coaches and athletes to sit on while they waited for their turn.
He knew he was pushing it and Bones was still annoyed at him for performing the same vault that had killed his dad, but they had needed the score and Jim knew he could do it. All the conflicting thoughts about the vault and what Bones meant to him started circulating again in his mind. He had focussed them out as much as possible, but Bones’ grumpy silence hadn’t been helping.
Jim jumped in surprise as he felt Bones’ hand clamp down hard on his thigh, bringing him back to the present. It had been twitching up and down and had obviously started to annoy Bones, who wasn’t the most patient of people at the best of times.
“Will you stop that,” Bones said quietly from between his teeth.
The strong, long fingers gripping his thigh, hot through the thin material of his longs, had nerves of a different kind gripping Jim. It was just what he didn’t need with most of the world’s cameras soon to focus on him-- a half-hard cock wanting that hand to move a bit higher and fuck anyone who was watching. There already were blogs dedicated to his package, that he was aware of, and he could just imagine the things that would be said and the screen grabs posted around if he didn’t get his cock to behave.
He had thought Gaila was a bit off in her suggestion but the thoughts had been nagging him and that simple touch caused a reaction he wasn’t quite expecting. As casual as he could make it, he brushed Bones’ hand off his leg before using one of the many weapons at his disposal.
“So when did you go and decide to get a coaching accreditation?” Jim asked, as he crossed his legs and discreetly adjusted his longs. If Bones was up to talking to him again, Jim was gonna do what he could to keep that happening.
“You don’t know everything about me, Jim. Now stop asking questions and think about your rings routine,” Bones ordered.
“One day I will know everything about you,” Jim declared.
Bones snorted, verbalizing his disdain for Jim’s comment.
Jim did as ordered, leaned back a little in the hard plastic chair, closed his eyes and visualized his routine. He could feel the rings in his hands as he was lifted up to grasp, body straight, tightening all the right muscles in his core as he felt the flex in his shoulders and the one thing he should never forget as Pike would continually remind him, to point his toes.
Azarian Maltese to start, feeling the strain as he held the position, remembering to check he had no arch in his handstand. Next up, swings, making sure no sweat is around to distract him, before a layed out Yamawaki, another Maltese with an inverted cross, and another swing keeping the rings as still as possible. Then his final move up in preparation for his double twist dismount. Stick the landing-- the basics that he learned at Riverside under Frank’s harsh tutelage and against his Mom’s wishes. He imagined absorbing the landing in his feet, holding it and then straightening to present, as perfect in his mind as he could make it.
A huge roar from the crowd had him opening his eyes and seeing the Chinese team pumping their arms in the air from over by the floor. A crowd pleasing routine had obviously just finished, and the excitement from the Chinese team hoping to push the scores the way they wanted. Jim looked down to check his grips. Cheers from his teammates had him looking up, Cupcake was up next, that determined look on his face that Jim likened to a pit bull about to savage its owner. He might give a whole lot of shit to Cupcake but the man was a demon on the Rings and a mid 16’s routine from him would give them a really good buffer on the Chinese and the Japanese.
Just like Pike had expected, the Chinese had faltered on High Bar. They had improved a lot on rings, but it had led to deficiencies in other areas. It was almost like the joke about the Cubans and pommels. It went that there was only one pommel horse in Cuba, and the one guy they had who was good at pommels used to hog it all the time.
Pike was all about being as complete a gymnast as possible. Spock was one of the prime movers on this ‘logical’ theory and though Jim might like to disagree with Spock at the best of times on purely philosophical terms, he did agree in this instance. Frank had been a stick kinda coach, but Pike used a carrot which you knew was backed up by a big stick if that didn’t work.
Jim watched Cupcake through his Maltese and his swings, doing exceptional work on his swings, body almost perfect, and then the hold at the end before his double back release kickout. Jim jumped up and high fived with Sulu and Pavel as Cupcake stuck his landing. If it didn’t get at least 16.5 then the judging was rigged, he thought.
As Cupcake came down the steps, Jim was one of the first waiting for him.
“Awesome job, man,” he said as he patted Cupcake on the shoulder.
“Don’t let us down, farm boy,” Cupcake replied, but there was a little smile on his face, the adrenaline from the routine making him slightly polite toward Jim.
An ooh from the crowd distracted their team, making them look around the competition floor to see what caused it.
“Jim,” Bones said in a warning tone.
Jim smirked as he looked at Bones’ face. He flicked his eyebrows up, letting Bones know he understood but was still amused by trying to keep his mind on the job.
“Nail it, Sulu,” Jim yelled encouragement as Sulu chalked up his hands and flashed him and Pavel a smile.
Pavel and Jim launched into their “Hikaroo Suloo” call, making sure to elongate the ending of each of his names.
“Sit down, you idiots,” Bones muttered.
“He loves it,” Jim pointed out as he stayed standing.
“Indeed, doctor,” Pavel agreed. “If we didn’t do it, Hikaru wouldn’t perform as well.”
Bones’ look said everything he thought about that piece of stupidity. Jim just grinned at him, but Pavel was watching Sulu intently as he started his routine. Jim joined Pavel in watching Sulu and yelling out encouragement just before each skill that he struggle a bit with. He was a little low on two of his skills, not enough to lose marks on normally, but this was an Olympic final. Another small wobble in his handstand, but just like Cupcake his landing was stuck beautifully and the team jumped as one in the air and yelled with the crowd.
A hug for Sulu, careful in his slap on his back not to hit too hard because of the grips on his hands, then Jim was standing alone by the steps with Spock and Bones hovering just behind them.
“Spot me, Bones?” Jim asked quietly, looking at Spock to see his reaction. He had asked the same thing during high bar, Spock had nodded his acquiescence and he did the same again.
Sulu’s score flashed up and Jim smiled broadly to see that the small errors he’d noticed hadn’t been taken into account.
“Acceptable,” Spock said. “Mr. Kirk, the final performance rests on you. Captain Pike would assure you that all your training has led to this point and to use all the skills and knowledge you have developed not to let your team down.”
Jim tried not to laugh at Spock’s attempt at a reassurance in his own unique way.
“Good god, man, good luck would have been enough,” Bones said.
Jim saw the flag go up, luckily enough ensuring that Bones wouldn’t start one of his normal disagreements with Spock.
“I’m up,” Jim said as he started up the stairs and over to the chalk, letting his smile drop as he chalked up and relaxed into his pre-routine. He turned around and Bones was waiting at the side of the rings for him. He took another deep breath, blocking out everything but the Rings. Three steps had him in the spot he needed to be in and a gentle touch of the hands at his hips had him startling a little.
“Ready, Jim?” Bones asked quietly, his breath tickling over the hairs of Jim’s neck.
At his nod, Bones’ hands gripped harder on the flesh of his hips and Jim bent his knees and released, arms extended to grasp the Rings above him. He gave a little mental shake of his head to block out the feeling of those hands as they slid off him, almost in a caressing movement, and turn his entire focus on his routine.
Everything became just him and the apparatus, the move fluidly from one skill to another exactly as he had trained for them. This is what he was born for, even if it was not what his mom wanted for him. His desire to prove that this is what made him special, just as it had made his dad special. What he could do for the team drove him on until he held the final move, silence in his ears before the swing to release the rings, pull tight, twist and spot the mat just as he extended out. Exactly as he had seen it in his head, it happened. He heard the slap as his feet sunk into the mat, felt his muscles bunch and relax before a rush of adrenaline hit him as the roar from the crowd made its presence felt.
Jim punched both arms in the air and looked to the side to see his team jumping up and down madly as they cheered. Only two people were standing still, Spock as stoic as usual, but with a nod of approval at Jim and off on the other side, Bones with his arms crossed and a wry smile on his face. It was Bones that Jim focussed on as he jogged over to the steps and down. It was Bones he was smiling at as he was slapped on the back and high fived, no one caring about grips on hands smacking into bare flesh.
“For Pike,” he mouthed in silence at Bones before laughing at Pavel, who was babbling away so excitedly that he hadn’t realized he had lapsed into Russian. The others were now distracted with teasing Pavel, so Jim made his escape, over to his bag, pulling off his grips as he walked, then smacking his hands together to get rid of whatever chalk was still hanging around.
He felt Bones’ presence even before he saw Bones’ hand with a water bottle in it, extended toward him.
As Jim looked quizzically at him, Bones spoke. “Even if in the event of complete stupidity and that that wasn’t a gold medal winning routine, you’ll still have a medal and peeing in a bottle in your immediate future, so drink up.”
Jim took the bottle and wrinkled up his nose to show exactly what he thought of that, but it was lost as Bones was now moving among the other team members and doling out more bottles and instructions.
Jim drank deep as he watched and waited for his score to come up. Spock had come to stand next to him and there was the slightest little twitch in his posture every so often, displaying nerves to Jim’s mind. Jim grinned at Spock as he pointed at the screen.
“Will that do?”
“Adequate, Mr. Kirk,” Spock replied before glancing at the large scoreboard. “And I would dare to say that is admirable.”
Jim followed Spock’s eyeline and let out a whoop of delight. They had done it. Without Pike and with the distraction of worry that had been nagging at him, Bones and Spock all day, they had won. Gold for Team U.S.A. and Jim was once more part of an unruly mob aka his teammates.
oOo
Chapter three here
A/N: For those who want to know what the vault looks like that Jim does in this chapter and why it's so insane, here's two videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuxL6QUP2oM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFQEP0v3d3U
Also "longs" are what the long white pants are called in men's gymnastics
Please note that the pairings and warnings are for these chapters only.
Beta: dizilla and aquila_star
Rating: NC17 (overall)
Word Count: 8,511 (43,000 overall)
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/McCoy (unrequited), Uhura/Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Cupcake & Mitchell
Warnings: AU - olympic gymnastics
Disclaimer: Not mine, dammit!
Summary: What to do when you discover that a vital part of your team is missing? The show must always go on, especially at the biggest show on earth.
Chapter 1 here and Chapter 2 on AO3 here.
Jim opened up his email account as he leaned back on the couch, his feet resting on the low coffee table in front of him. When he woke, Bones wasn’t in the apartment. He obviously had been called out for a meeting or something. Jim had logged into his emails earlier to see what the plans were for the day, but there had been no email from Pike, which was a little unusual. There still was no email waiting for him and he thought that maybe they were still sorting out some media stuff, as there was likely to be a promo or two he and the others would be involved in. All in all it was still pretty unusual.
Instead, Jim showered, checked again for messages but found no new ones, and took himself off to get breakfast. Every time he went into the dining hall he shook his head, a McDonalds restaurant in the official athletes village was a weird thing, but money ruled all sport, even the Olympics.
There was still no email when he returned back to the room and also, still no Bones.
It was half an hour later when the concern that was starting to fly around Jim’s mind was not helped by the expression on Bones’ face when he finally came back into their apartment.
“What is it?” Jim asked, as Bones dropped his tag and phone on the coffee table.
“Hmm?” Bones asked, not looking at Jim.
“Why don’t we have an email ordering our lives around?”
“You’ll get one soon.” Bones was walking toward the bathroom.
“Bones, I know something is up.”
Bones stopped as Jim spoke, resting a hand on the wall and dropping his head down.
“Dammit Jim, why are you so observant when we never want you to be?”
“One of my many talents.”
Bones just snorted in reply.
Jim watched for a moment, waiting to see if Bones would say anything further, but he didn’t.
“Spill, Bones,” Jim ordered.
Bones sighed and walked back to sit on the couch next to Jim. The ding of an email notification distracted Jim for a moment, and he saw that it was about the day’s schedule.
“It’s from Spock,” Jim said, looking at Bones to see if he knew why it wasn’t from Pike as per usual.
Bones took another breath and continued to look at Jim with a serious expression on his face. Jim knew that something was seriously up.
“Pike’s missing,” Bones said.
“What?” Jim couldn’t help that his voice had a slightly squeaky quality, before he held up a hand to stop Bones speaking further. Already, issues were running back and forth in his mind. “When was he seen last? Spock can step up but we need another coach on the floor. You can say that he is ill. What about the Chef de Mission? Do they know? Have you checked with Number One? Of course you have, you aren’t stupid. He was still at the venue when we left last night. If he came back here, he would have been logged in with security.”
“Who died and made you captain?” Bones asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’ve got a final to be concentrating on today. Look at Spock’s email and leave finding Pike to us.”
“Dude, c’mon, like I can think about that at the moment?” Jim asked rhetorically. “Where’s Spock?”
“Jim, read the goddamn email and leave the team organization up to us.”
Jim glared at Bones, before doing as he was told. It was just the standard timelines and orders for a day of competition, nothing mentioned about Pike.
“Do the others know?” Jim asked.
The look from Bones said it all.
“I can keep my mouth shut,” Jim said.
Up went Bones’ eyebrow to express his disbelief eloquently.
“I can,” Jim grumbled almost under his breath as he stared at his laptop screen again, hoping that a solution might come to him about where Pike may be.
“Of course not, dumbass. Just make sure you keep that motor-mouth of yours shut for a bit longer. Spock’s as confused as the rest of us. He didn’t check back into the village last night and I think the police should be informed. Spock’s all about not alerting the rest of the competition we are without our Head Coach. T’Pring and Number One have backed him up.” Bones shook his head, obviously annoyed at not being listened to.
A memory came back to Jim, the ‘discussion’ between Pike and the Romanian Head Coach.
“Where’s Spock?” he asked.
“What, Jim?” Bones asked back.
“Remembered something,” Jim said as he stood up quickly and grabbed his jacket, while pushing his sneakers onto his feet at the same time.
Bones stood up and grabbed his phone and tag, putting the tag around his neck. He tossed Jim’s tag at him and pressed a number on his phone.
“Spock, where are you?” Bones asked, and then waited for a reply.
“Really? Jim and I’ll be there in a minute. Jim’s got some information that might be of use.” Bones waved at Jim to follow him as he walked out of the room and headed over to the elevator. Jim checked the door was closed securely before he followed Bones to the elevator.
“He’s not an idiot and, no, I didn’t just ‘spill the beans’!” Bones rolled his eyes at Jim, obviously annoyed at whatever Spock had said.
Jim tried to hide his smile. Bones and Spock were renowned for their regular spats, although Spock liked to call them ‘disagreements on logic’, which always ended with Bones grumbling to Jim about, ‘logic, my ass!’
Jim looked at Bones in query, noting that he had pressed the button for Gaila’s and Uhura’s floor. Bones just had a set expression on his face and kept his lips slightly pursed as a way to not reply to Jim.
“Fine,” Jim said, leaning back against the wall for the short trip up. It only took a minute and the doors opened. Bones walked out first and turned in the direction of a room that Jim was very familiar with.
Sure enough, Bones knocked on the door to the apartment that Gaila and Uhura were sharing. Spock opened the door and gestured them both in.
Uhura was sitting on the couch in the living space.
“Seems I’m not the only one to be talking,” Bones muttered in Spock’s direction.
“Ms. Uhura was at the venue later than us, as such I was ascertaining if she had any further information to impart that may assist us,” Spock said in his dry tone.
“God dammit man! Can’t you just use five words instead of twenty-five?”
“There were twenty-six words, Dr. McCoy,” Spock replied.
Bones threw his hands up in exasperation. “Jim tell him whatever it was that you remembered.”
Jim knew he needed to speak, otherwise it would turn into World War Three with the worry affecting the normal antagonistic natures of a Bones-Spock conversation.
“When we left last night, Pike was over in the far corner of the gym with the Romanian Head Coach. Their discussion didn’t look at all friendly, and there were some looks from the teams sitting near them. The Canadian girls might be able to help you out with what the discussion was about, they were the closest.”
“Nyota?” Spock asked.
“I wouldn’t be much help, they aren’t too fond of me at the moment, but Gaila’s brother is the coach of a couple of them. I could get her to ask?”
Spock nodded. “The less people we involve in this disappearance the better, but I shall converse with T’Pring.”
“I still say we need to tell the authorities, at the very least,” Bones interjected.
“What and cause an international incident at the Olympics? Let alone put all the media attention on the team while we are trying to win a medal?” Jim pointed out.
“Jim, a man’s life could be in danger!” Bones had moved away from the wall and, in typical Bones fashion, had raised his voice as he got closer to Jim.
“Yeah, I got that, Bones. But until we get more information, they won’t thank us for causing an incident.”
“Damn right it’s an incident! The Head Coach of the U.S. Men’s team goes missing while at the London Olympics. No, that’s not of a concern to anyone!”
“It is indeed of great concern, Dr. McCoy, but until we have any further information, it is best to err on the side of caution. The appropriate people have been notified, but we have agreed to maintain keeping the information quiet. Information is being put about that Captain Pike is ill and being isolated from the team as a precaution. You will be asked for information, and I have been asked to ascertain that you are able to provide a diagnosis that will not be queried.”
Jim watched carefully to see if he needed to back Spock up and convince Bones that this was the right thing to do. Bones was mulling it over, with a glare directed at Spock.
“Fine,” Bones eventually bit out. “Tell them he has a virus and is being isolated as a precaution until we get results from the tests back. I’m registering my protest though.”
“Duly noted, doctor,” Spock said, before turning toward Uhura. “Are you sure you did not see Captain Pike speaking with that Romanian?”
“No, I was with the others. I only saw Pike going to the other training gym. I didn’t see him after that. Although...” Uhura looked at Jim as she spoke. “I did see Nero talking with some people outside that I thought looked like they weren’t part of any team. They were near a car that wasn’t an official vehicle. Staying well away from everyone else. There was a van parked there as well, I think, but it was dark.”
“Did they look dodgy?” Jim asked, as another memory snapped at him.
“They looked like you when we first met you at Riverside.” Uhura smiled at him.
“Dodgy then,” Jim smirked back at her. “I remember from late last week seeing those guys hanging around outside and talking with the other Romanians. Not the normal gymnastics groupies. We should look into them,” Jim said.
“Mr. Kirk, you have a competition to prepare for,” Spock told him.
“Spock, I know what these guys look like,” Jim protested.
“So does Ms. Uhura,” Spock pointed out.
“This is a bit of a leap in logic, even for you Spock,” Bones said.
“Indeed not, doctor. Nero has been very public in his disapproval of my father’s defection from Romania to the United States. They were contemporaries for a time and he blames the success of the United States program on my father and by extension, myself. Are you able to look into those gentlemen for me, Nyota? Stay away from Nero though, he is a particularly emotional Romanian who would appreciate any way he could cause harm to a member of this team.”
“I still say it’s a tenuous theory at best,” Bones said.
“Duly noted. Now Jim, you have a bus to catch, shortly.” Spock looked at his watch before continuing. “I suggest you return to your room and collect your gear. Doctor, please accompany me to discuss the plan with other officials.”
Bones shook his head, before he said, “Fine,” and started to walk out of the room.
“Spock,” Jim said quietly, making Spock pause next to him. “We need to keep him on the floor with us. Bones is...”
“Too emotional,” Spock observed before nodding at Jim’s suggestion. “Two officials are required on the competition floor, I shall inform Dr. McCoy of his increase in duties tonight, if Captain Pike does not reappear.”
“Good. See you at the bus. Uhura, good luck. We need Pike back.”
“We’ll find him,” she said.
Jim smiled. “Hell hath no fury like a woman and all that.”
oOo
It had been a tricky afternoon, keeping the concentration up while the worry was nagging at the back of his mind. Gaila had done her work superbly; the conversation between Pike and Nero had definitely been antagonistic and had involved a threat from Nero. Uhura had less success, but others had seen the same group hanging around the Romanians and especially Nero. One of the Russian team had even said they thought that they were family to Nero.
Questions had been raised amongst the U.S. team about Pike’s absence, but Jim, much to Bones’ apparent disbelief, was able to stick to the story. With all the little conversations Jim had with Bones and Spock away from the team during warm-up, Jim found himself being asked if he was taking Spock’s place as Assistant Coach by his fellow teammates. They had talked about Number One coming in to help as well, but one look was enough to give that idea short shrift. It was up to the girls to keep the search for Pike going while the team searched after gold.
Spock had listened to Jim’s suggestions about the competition politely and Jim had been hard pressed not to express his shock when Spock agreed with most of them. Bones was reported to the IOC officials as being the second U.S. coach, due to Captain Pike’s ‘illness’. Jim could only look in shock as it was accepted.
“That’s weird,” Jim said as the officials walked away.
“Mr. Kirk, Dr. McCoy does have the necessary qualifications and under the circumstances the IOC have approved our request.”
“He’s a doctor, not a coach,” Jim said as he pointed at Bones.
“Actually, Jim...” Bones said.
“No way!”
“If I was gonna do my job properly then it might help if I knew what stupidity the coaches were gonna try and get y’all to do,” Bones said.
“What’s going on?” Sulu asked as he wandered over.
“Bones is apparently our coach for this evening,” Jim said.
“Mr. Kirk, it would be beneficial if you were to commence your warm up and leave the imparting of information to those whose job it is,” Spock said.
Jim was tempted to poke his tongue out at Spock, but at the look from Bones, he decided against it and obeyed the instruction.
“Whatever,” he said as he walked away with Sulu.
oOo
A little later, Jim could see that Bones was close to saying something the team didn’t need to hear, so Jim wandered over toward him and looked in the direction of the treatment room. Bones took the hint, picked up his med kit and followed Jim to the little room. Jim hopped up on the bed and waited for Bones to close the door. A little tick on Bones’ cheek was telling Jim everything he needed to know about Bones’ state of mind. He knew Bones so well that anyone else, even Pike, wouldn’t have picked up on it. They would have concentrated on Bones’ silence, which was unusual in itself, but the tick was telling Jim that an explosion was very imminent.
“What, Jim?” Bones asked as he opened up the kit he had placed on the bed next to Jim.
Jim looked down at Bones’ bowed head, the fluorescent light shining on the deep chestnut of Bones’ hair. Jim wanted to reach out and touch it and try and calm Bones’ down, but while he and Bones were pretty handsy as friends, that was a bit more intimate than they had ever been together.
“What’s wrong?” Bones continued.
“Nothing,” Jim replied.
Bones looked up, the furrow between his eyes appearing as he was confused by Jim’s reply.
“What?” Bones bit out, now looking angry.
“You need to yell. Do it at me and not out there,” Jim said.
Bones glared at Jim, the tick now speeded up, but while Jim thought Bones might yell now, he surprised him. Bones zipped up his med kit and started to walk toward the door.
“Running away, Bones? That’s unlike you,” Jim said, knowing that he had to keep Bones in the room.
Bones hit his hand on the door and leaned his head down as he swore under his breath. Jim slid off the bed and put his hand on Bones’ shoulder.
“Bones,” Jim said.
“This has to be one of the stupidest decisions I have ever had to be a part of.” Bones managed to finally get out the words that Jim knew had been building up in him since they had left Uhura’s apartment.
Bones turned around and leaned in close to Jim’s face.
“And you!” Bones poked Jim in the chest. “You are going along with this. A man’s life is in danger and all you lot can think about is a god damn gymnastics competition!”
“No we aren’t. We are thinking about Pike, those of us that know anyway. What can we do? Would Pike want us to drop everything for him? Hell no and you know it,” Jim retorted. He needed to get Bones to vent out all his hang ups and then to calm down and get on the same page.
Bones growled at Jim’s response, no pithy saying or comeback reply but he still expressed his annoyance in his own way.
“It’s still wrong. A man’s missing for christ’s sake! And no one is doing anything,” Bones said, once more poking Jim in the chest.
Jim had had enough with the poking. He already had some decent bruises from training and he didn’t need another one on his chest. Jim grabbed Bones’ hand and glared right back at the man.
“We are doing things. Sure we haven’t gone to the cops, but that would make things so much worse. You, me and Spock are the only ones that know out there that know. Can you imagine the panic if everyone else knew? Pike’s spent most of his life training gymnasts for moments like this. He found you and he found me and gave us a chance when no one else would. I don’t want to let him down.” Jim had let go of Bones’ hand and brought both his hands up to cradle Bones’ face, to make sure Bones wasn’t going to look anywhere but at him. “You know exactly what everyone has sacrificed out there and you’ve done the same. I need you to be you. I know you are worried, and so am I, but I can’t do what Pike would want, if I don’t have you there.”
For a long moment he and Jim just stared at each other. Jim tried desperately to put into his eyes every concern he had, but also his resolution that this was the path they were taking and no amount of argument from Bones was going to change it. Jim felt Bones’ skin under his fingers and with little movements of his thumbs he could feel exactly how close Bones had shaved today. Bones’ aftershave, a light but slightly spicy smell, was teasing at Jim’s senses. He’d been close to Bones before and knew his preference but there was just something about it now, standing so close to each other.
Finally Bones lowered his eyes and nodded his head slightly.
“I mean, really, man. Would you prefer me to be running around London trying to find him?” Jim asked with a little smile on his face.
Bones huffed out a laugh as he shook his head, still not looking up at Jim. Jim could see the smile in reply on Bones’ face, the little upturn of his lips that caused the mole on his right cheek to move a little higher.
“Hell no. The patching up I would have to do after that is not worth it,” Bones said before turning back to the door.
“Bones--,” Jim started to say, reaching out a hand to almost touch Bones on the shoulder.
Bones stopped, with his hand on the door knob. “I know. You can tell Spock I’m fine.”
“I’m just...I’m concerned too. I just...” For once Jim wasn’t as sure about what to say. He knew he had a silver tongue and a comeback for every situation, but now, after feeling the concern from Bones, from being so close to him, he had this feeling that he needed to be closer.
“I know, Jim. See you back out there,” Bones said as he turned the door handle.
“It’s what friends are for,” Jim said. “You needed to yell and what better person to yell at than me?” Jim had dropped his hand down by his side, initially unsure if to put them on his hips or leave them as they were.
“Pike is all about ‘practice makes perfect’ and I sure do practice a lot in your direction.” Jim could hear the smile in Bones’ voice as he spoke, his back still to Jim.
Bones opened the door, bringing them both back to reality and the pressure of a whole nation’s expectations, but more importantly, the expectations of the one man who wasn’t there.
oOo
Jim took a quick glance at the scoreboard as the scores for Pavel‘s final vault flashed up. It wasn’t bad, but could have been better. Jim knew exactly what vaults the other competitors had been doing and if you played it safe they had been judging them just as safe, but something with a bit of risk was getting a preference from the judges. Jim did a quick glance at the three on this side-- an Australian, a Hungarian and a Brazilian. It was almost the perfect start to a joke, but this apparatus wasn’t to be laughed at. Serious injuries had been caused, even with the change of the vault shape to help against that and certain vaults being outlawed. Frank had been adamant that the first apparatus Jim had needed to master was vault and as much as he hated that prick, he was glad that his fears were faced head on and early.
His dad had died doing a vault that very few attempted. Why he had changed his second vault to it at that Olympics, no one knew, though many tried to guess. Frank had ‘opinions’ about it that he liked to share regularly with Jim, especially that it was Jim’s fault. His Dad didn’t have his mind on the ‘game’, he was too focussed on the fact that his wife was in labor; were two of Frank’s regular comments about that moment.
Jim stared at the ‘tongue’-- the metal, plastic and faux leather curved monster of many people’s nightmares. It wasn’t going to beat him today. He was determined not to let it. All around him there were quiet conversations going on between officials, between coaches and their athletes, and also the crowd. He ignored them all, just focussing on the apparatus. His first vault was a 7.2 difficulty and his next was a 7.0. They were in front, but if they could get the extra .2, it would be like a 100 meter sprinter breaking his opponent’s spirit 50 m from the finishing line.
He had been training the Kobayashi Maru - a full-twisting Tsukahara double back, for the past few years. Pike had initially been resistant about Jim training for it, but when he discovered that Jim was attempting it in the gym with no supervision, he had gotten really pissed. A few ‘discussions’ between them later and Pike had allowed Jim to work on it under his eye, once he knew that Frank had laid out the groundwork during Jim’s formative years in gymnastics. It wasn’t something that they did when the others were in the gym and especially not if Bones was around. Jim and Pike would never have heard the end of it and they both knew it without having to speak of it.
His mind made up, Jim walked toward Spock to speak to him quietly, away from the rest of the team.
“We need a bigger buffer, right?” Jim asked.
“It would be beneficial,” Spock replied as he made a few notes on the clipboard that was never far from his hands while he was on a competition floor.
“What about two 7.2 vaults?” Jim asked, not looking at Spock but still at the vault where Sulu was checking the mark of his run up.
“Successfully completed those would be unmatched in any competition and would indeed provide a substantial lead on the competition.”
“So can I?” Jim asked as Sulu took off down the mat to attack his first vault.
Neither Jim nor Spock saw Sulu’s vault, as Spock said the name that Jim had been thinking of for the past few minutes and possibly for his whole life.
“The Kobayashi Maru.”
The cheer from the crowd behind them distracted them both from their little staring contest to glance instead at Sulu who had successfully landed his vault, if his reaction was anything to go by.
The score which flashed up as Sulu waited, down the end of the mat again, was okay for what he had done. Jim could see Pavel standing up and yelling encouragement. His second vault was a little more difficult and as Pavel started on the chant of Sulu’s name, Jim joined in, flashing a smile at Sulu.
“Stick it!” Jim yelled out as Sulu nodded at him and Spock, Bones having put up the difficulty score for the judges.
Up went the flag and Sulu was taking off once again, legs striding out as he built up speed closer to the springboard.
“Woo!” Jim yelled as Sulu landed, sticking it solidly, just as Jim had told him to do.
“Tell you what,” Jim said to Spock as he headed in the direction of the steps up to the run up. “I nail the first one to your satisfaction, you let me do it on the second.”
Spock looked up from where he was moving the marker for Jim’s run-up.
“You know I can do it. Pike would have told you I’ve been training it. No guts, no glory, and Pike woulda let me do it,” Jim said.
“Emotional blackmail is beneath you, Mr. Kirk,” Spock replied before admitting, “I have indeed seen the training tapes.”
“So? Deal? If you’re happy with the first one, I get to do it on the second?”
“Concentrate on your initial vault, Mr. Kirk,” Spock said as he walked down to speak to Bones.
Jim knew he only had 30 seconds once that flag went up. He gave a little shake of his shoulders, feeling all his muscles come into play, a quick stretch out of the arms, feeling the lock in his shoulders and the give in his elbows he would need. Jim put a little chalk on his hands, gave a gentle clap to dislodge the excess and then he moved to his run up place, double checking the marker before looking back at the vault and the red tongue waiting for him.
The flag went up and with one deep breath, that he held for just for a moment and felt the perfection of the flight, before he let the breath out as he took off. Down the mat the vault loomed larger in his vision and then it and the springboard were there, for him to use and do what he was born to do. The slap of the springboard as he hit it at full speed, followed by the slap of his hands resounding in the air on the table as he saw the chalk fly, before he was in the air with a push. His movements were controlled and tight, twisting at the right time, around and then spotting the mat with the landing strips waiting for him below. He extended out, body tight and with a small bend as his feet connected with the mat, sinking in as every muscle screamed out in his body to just take another little jump. Jim didn’t let them win, absorbed the pain and held that landing for all he was worth before straightening up and grinning at the stadium at large.
The grin was still on his face as he presented to the judges and jogged over where Spock was standing near Bones.
“Nice one, Jim,” Bones said.
“Deal, Spock?” Jim asked, knowing that he had only about 30 seconds to convince Spock. “No fault in that one and you know my mind’s on it. Want me to do a vault I am not prepared for?”
Spock stared at Jim for a moment with his calm way that unnerved most gymnasts, and even a whole lot of judges.
“Dr. McCoy, change that to a 7.2 difficulty,” Spock said as he walked over to adjust Jim’s run up marker.
“Atta boy, Spock. Time to kick some ass!”
“What?” Bones asked.
“Mr. Kirk will be doing the Kobayashi Maru as his second vault.”
“Oh, hell no!” Bones growled out, starting to walk toward Jim.
“Too late Bones, Spock decided. It’ll be fine, trust me,” Jim said, grinning down at Bones from his position up on the podium, trying to convince him through that little speech that every worry that was in Bones’ head wouldn’t come to pass. Jim backed away and gave Bones a thumbs up before jogging to the end, and smiling at Spock who had correctly marked his run up for the vault. Pike had indeed been telling Spock what Jim had been practicing.
Bones had followed him down to the end.
“For Christ’s sake, Jim,” Bones hissed out, trying to keep his voice down a bit but his whole body language had the rest of the team watching the interaction and obviously wondering what was going on. Jim looked up to see the 7.2 difficulty on the scoreboard, so Bones had done that part of his job at least.
“It’ll be fine, Bones,” Jim said as he held up his hand to stall any more of Bones’ complaints. He could almost feel the concern radiating off of Bones. It had been a long time since someone had cared as much about Jim’s well being as Bones did.
If Jim had the time, he would have loved to have convinced Bones, but the flag went up-- the judges were ready for him and Jim focussed on the vault table ahead and not the distracting man at his right.
He took a breath in and he held it a little longer as Bones spoke again, shocking him slightly.
“Don’t kill yourself! Just stick it!”
In all their time together, at Nationals, Worlds, and now here at the Olympics, Bones had never used that particular gymnastic terminology before. He was always a doctor first.
If Bones wanted him to stick it, Jim was gonna stick it!
He let the breath out, feeling the slight give in the mat under his feet, springboard in the right place and a nod from Spock.
He presented and then was off, pushing harder than for the previous vault. His world came down to the apparatus in front of him, the sounds of his breathing and his feet on the runway. He performed a handspring with half twist onto the vault from the springboard and the little bend in his elbows ensured he pushed off with as much maximum height as he could get. He tucked in straight away, but not too tight as that would only increase the rotations too fast and cause him to have no control over them. Everything in gymnastics was about control. Keeping his hands near his knees, not touching as he completed his first back tuck and then bringing them up and crossing over his chest as he started to twist on the final one.
Looming out of the blur of the rotation was the ground, coming up to meet him faster than a punch from a pissed off boyfriend or girlfriend who was objecting to Jim’s interest in their other half.
“Don’t fall forward, don’t fall forward,” he repeated to himself as the straightened out of the tuck just enough, flexing his feet ready to land and then he did.
If the last vault had been hard to hold and not hop out of, this one was worse. Higher and faster on his rotations, his body was screaming for just a little hop. He held his place, bent over and arms straight out, slowly moving his body back, hips first and then up to straighten. A triumphant smile was on his face as he stared at the vault just a meter or so in front of him. He had won, he had beaten it and as he raised his arms up, the rush of the roar from the crowd invaded his ears.
A turn, a little smirk of a smile now at the judges with his final present, as if to say ‘go ahead, deduct this!’ Then he turned toward his team.
He saw Spock first, arms crossed and clipboard tucked in neatly against his chest, not marring the stiff-backed posture that was such a part of him. He gave a little nod of approval, not even a grin as Jim jumped down and gave him a slap on his shoulder as he walked past.
“See, told ya,” Jim said, his grin now wide enough that he could feel the muscles pulling tight on his cheeks. Nothing was gonna wipe that grin from his face.
Before he could pull his arm fully away from Spock’s shoulder he was enveloped in a hug from Sulu, a huge grin on his face as well.
“You fucking idiot!” Sulu said into his ear as Jim laughed and hugged him right back.
“Hey, it was brilliant!” Jim countered.
Sulu just leaned back, breaking the hug and pushed Jim playfully on the side of the head.
“Brilliant and insane as only James T. Kirk can do!” Sulu replied.
Pavel was shaking his head side to side, his eyes wide in amazement. Jim held up his hand for a high five and found himself pulled into another tight hug instead. A few slaps on his back and even one or two not so soft on his head and he strongly suspected who was responsible for that. They were a tight little group in their excitement and Jim looked around for Bones so he could tell him he had listened. He had stuck it and hadn’t died.
Jim’s smile dropped a little to see Bones still standing by the stairs where Jim had left him, his arms were crossed like Spock’s had been but the look on his face was as stony as Jim had ever seen it. Bones wasn’t pleased and it was all Jim’s fault. Bones needed to trust him better, Jim had never needed someone to trust him as much as he needed Bones to. All the babbling that was going on around him, the excitement he could almost literally feel, was tempered by Bones’ silence. Jim hadn’t died, just as Bones had told him not to. He had pulled off a vault that hadn’t been seen successfully in competition, ever. No one would ever take that from him, yet Bones seemed to disapprove of it.
Jim didn’t have time to consider it any more as there was another roar, even more deafening than when he had landed the vault. Someone spun him around toward the scoreboard.
They had their buffer, a big buffer, just as he had planned.
Jim laughed, elated with all the emotions around. He turned back to the crowd and pumped up his fists in the air, causing another round of cheers, before Spock walked behind him and brought him right back down to earth.
“Next rotation gentlemen,” Spock said quietly, never having to raise his voice to get everyone to listen. It was a talent Jim was trying to figure out how to do it himself. Pike was another who had the skill, although sometimes he did use a piercing whistle to pull his rowdy gymnasts into line.
Jim walked back over to his bag, his path bringing him closer to Bones who was walking back to the team area of the line of chairs.
“Hey Bones,” Jim greeted him.
All he received was a quick flash of Bones’ eyes and a, “Just don’t, Jim,” before Bones was walking past him.
Jim hid his disappointment, knowing that there were cameras all around, listening in and recording almost every conversation and movement going on on the competition floor, except anything to do with judging of course. Those were no-go areas.
A heavy feeling settled in his heart and a long ago conversation with his mom came to mind, one of the few times Jim heard her talk about his Dad. The pain in her voice had been palpable and yet the love was still there, even after all those years and knowing how much Jim looked like his Dad. He knew it would have been hard for her to see him everyday, being a constant reminder of the day she lost her husband. Bones’ silent treatment felt a little like what his Mom had expressed that day.
From where Jim was bent down over his bag he took a quick glance at Bones and there was that little flicker he had been feeling the past couple of days whenever he had seen Bones. Just like a first crush, the connection was so unexpected that Jim paused completely in what he was doing. Shocked that he might have a crush on Bones, his best friend. Jim tried to think of what else it could be, but Gaila’s comments about Bones’ attractiveness after Qualifyings and Jim’s own thoughts seemed to be converging right back to crush.
Jim didn’t have time to ponder it too much as he was slapped on the back, close to his ass, by Mitchell, effectively telling him to stop dawdling and get in line with the rest of the team, ready to move to the next rotation. He had to try and get Bones out of his head. They had a medal to win.
oOo
Jim had never been as on edge at a competition as he was that evening. It had been close through every apparatus, with the Japanese edging ahead on the second apparatus. After a strong performance from Pavel on pommels, as well as Jim and Sulu nailing their routines to the best of their abilities, they had kept just ahead until vault, when Jim had got the audience on their feet and Bones to stop talking to him. They were now waiting for the final rotation to start and Jim had taken a seat next to Bones on the little plastic chairs for the coaches and athletes to sit on while they waited for their turn.
He knew he was pushing it and Bones was still annoyed at him for performing the same vault that had killed his dad, but they had needed the score and Jim knew he could do it. All the conflicting thoughts about the vault and what Bones meant to him started circulating again in his mind. He had focussed them out as much as possible, but Bones’ grumpy silence hadn’t been helping.
Jim jumped in surprise as he felt Bones’ hand clamp down hard on his thigh, bringing him back to the present. It had been twitching up and down and had obviously started to annoy Bones, who wasn’t the most patient of people at the best of times.
“Will you stop that,” Bones said quietly from between his teeth.
The strong, long fingers gripping his thigh, hot through the thin material of his longs, had nerves of a different kind gripping Jim. It was just what he didn’t need with most of the world’s cameras soon to focus on him-- a half-hard cock wanting that hand to move a bit higher and fuck anyone who was watching. There already were blogs dedicated to his package, that he was aware of, and he could just imagine the things that would be said and the screen grabs posted around if he didn’t get his cock to behave.
He had thought Gaila was a bit off in her suggestion but the thoughts had been nagging him and that simple touch caused a reaction he wasn’t quite expecting. As casual as he could make it, he brushed Bones’ hand off his leg before using one of the many weapons at his disposal.
“So when did you go and decide to get a coaching accreditation?” Jim asked, as he crossed his legs and discreetly adjusted his longs. If Bones was up to talking to him again, Jim was gonna do what he could to keep that happening.
“You don’t know everything about me, Jim. Now stop asking questions and think about your rings routine,” Bones ordered.
“One day I will know everything about you,” Jim declared.
Bones snorted, verbalizing his disdain for Jim’s comment.
Jim did as ordered, leaned back a little in the hard plastic chair, closed his eyes and visualized his routine. He could feel the rings in his hands as he was lifted up to grasp, body straight, tightening all the right muscles in his core as he felt the flex in his shoulders and the one thing he should never forget as Pike would continually remind him, to point his toes.
Azarian Maltese to start, feeling the strain as he held the position, remembering to check he had no arch in his handstand. Next up, swings, making sure no sweat is around to distract him, before a layed out Yamawaki, another Maltese with an inverted cross, and another swing keeping the rings as still as possible. Then his final move up in preparation for his double twist dismount. Stick the landing-- the basics that he learned at Riverside under Frank’s harsh tutelage and against his Mom’s wishes. He imagined absorbing the landing in his feet, holding it and then straightening to present, as perfect in his mind as he could make it.
A huge roar from the crowd had him opening his eyes and seeing the Chinese team pumping their arms in the air from over by the floor. A crowd pleasing routine had obviously just finished, and the excitement from the Chinese team hoping to push the scores the way they wanted. Jim looked down to check his grips. Cheers from his teammates had him looking up, Cupcake was up next, that determined look on his face that Jim likened to a pit bull about to savage its owner. He might give a whole lot of shit to Cupcake but the man was a demon on the Rings and a mid 16’s routine from him would give them a really good buffer on the Chinese and the Japanese.
Just like Pike had expected, the Chinese had faltered on High Bar. They had improved a lot on rings, but it had led to deficiencies in other areas. It was almost like the joke about the Cubans and pommels. It went that there was only one pommel horse in Cuba, and the one guy they had who was good at pommels used to hog it all the time.
Pike was all about being as complete a gymnast as possible. Spock was one of the prime movers on this ‘logical’ theory and though Jim might like to disagree with Spock at the best of times on purely philosophical terms, he did agree in this instance. Frank had been a stick kinda coach, but Pike used a carrot which you knew was backed up by a big stick if that didn’t work.
Jim watched Cupcake through his Maltese and his swings, doing exceptional work on his swings, body almost perfect, and then the hold at the end before his double back release kickout. Jim jumped up and high fived with Sulu and Pavel as Cupcake stuck his landing. If it didn’t get at least 16.5 then the judging was rigged, he thought.
As Cupcake came down the steps, Jim was one of the first waiting for him.
“Awesome job, man,” he said as he patted Cupcake on the shoulder.
“Don’t let us down, farm boy,” Cupcake replied, but there was a little smile on his face, the adrenaline from the routine making him slightly polite toward Jim.
An ooh from the crowd distracted their team, making them look around the competition floor to see what caused it.
“Jim,” Bones said in a warning tone.
Jim smirked as he looked at Bones’ face. He flicked his eyebrows up, letting Bones know he understood but was still amused by trying to keep his mind on the job.
“Nail it, Sulu,” Jim yelled encouragement as Sulu chalked up his hands and flashed him and Pavel a smile.
Pavel and Jim launched into their “Hikaroo Suloo” call, making sure to elongate the ending of each of his names.
“Sit down, you idiots,” Bones muttered.
“He loves it,” Jim pointed out as he stayed standing.
“Indeed, doctor,” Pavel agreed. “If we didn’t do it, Hikaru wouldn’t perform as well.”
Bones’ look said everything he thought about that piece of stupidity. Jim just grinned at him, but Pavel was watching Sulu intently as he started his routine. Jim joined Pavel in watching Sulu and yelling out encouragement just before each skill that he struggle a bit with. He was a little low on two of his skills, not enough to lose marks on normally, but this was an Olympic final. Another small wobble in his handstand, but just like Cupcake his landing was stuck beautifully and the team jumped as one in the air and yelled with the crowd.
A hug for Sulu, careful in his slap on his back not to hit too hard because of the grips on his hands, then Jim was standing alone by the steps with Spock and Bones hovering just behind them.
“Spot me, Bones?” Jim asked quietly, looking at Spock to see his reaction. He had asked the same thing during high bar, Spock had nodded his acquiescence and he did the same again.
Sulu’s score flashed up and Jim smiled broadly to see that the small errors he’d noticed hadn’t been taken into account.
“Acceptable,” Spock said. “Mr. Kirk, the final performance rests on you. Captain Pike would assure you that all your training has led to this point and to use all the skills and knowledge you have developed not to let your team down.”
Jim tried not to laugh at Spock’s attempt at a reassurance in his own unique way.
“Good god, man, good luck would have been enough,” Bones said.
Jim saw the flag go up, luckily enough ensuring that Bones wouldn’t start one of his normal disagreements with Spock.
“I’m up,” Jim said as he started up the stairs and over to the chalk, letting his smile drop as he chalked up and relaxed into his pre-routine. He turned around and Bones was waiting at the side of the rings for him. He took another deep breath, blocking out everything but the Rings. Three steps had him in the spot he needed to be in and a gentle touch of the hands at his hips had him startling a little.
“Ready, Jim?” Bones asked quietly, his breath tickling over the hairs of Jim’s neck.
At his nod, Bones’ hands gripped harder on the flesh of his hips and Jim bent his knees and released, arms extended to grasp the Rings above him. He gave a little mental shake of his head to block out the feeling of those hands as they slid off him, almost in a caressing movement, and turn his entire focus on his routine.
Everything became just him and the apparatus, the move fluidly from one skill to another exactly as he had trained for them. This is what he was born for, even if it was not what his mom wanted for him. His desire to prove that this is what made him special, just as it had made his dad special. What he could do for the team drove him on until he held the final move, silence in his ears before the swing to release the rings, pull tight, twist and spot the mat just as he extended out. Exactly as he had seen it in his head, it happened. He heard the slap as his feet sunk into the mat, felt his muscles bunch and relax before a rush of adrenaline hit him as the roar from the crowd made its presence felt.
Jim punched both arms in the air and looked to the side to see his team jumping up and down madly as they cheered. Only two people were standing still, Spock as stoic as usual, but with a nod of approval at Jim and off on the other side, Bones with his arms crossed and a wry smile on his face. It was Bones that Jim focussed on as he jogged over to the steps and down. It was Bones he was smiling at as he was slapped on the back and high fived, no one caring about grips on hands smacking into bare flesh.
“For Pike,” he mouthed in silence at Bones before laughing at Pavel, who was babbling away so excitedly that he hadn’t realized he had lapsed into Russian. The others were now distracted with teasing Pavel, so Jim made his escape, over to his bag, pulling off his grips as he walked, then smacking his hands together to get rid of whatever chalk was still hanging around.
He felt Bones’ presence even before he saw Bones’ hand with a water bottle in it, extended toward him.
As Jim looked quizzically at him, Bones spoke. “Even if in the event of complete stupidity and that that wasn’t a gold medal winning routine, you’ll still have a medal and peeing in a bottle in your immediate future, so drink up.”
Jim took the bottle and wrinkled up his nose to show exactly what he thought of that, but it was lost as Bones was now moving among the other team members and doling out more bottles and instructions.
Jim drank deep as he watched and waited for his score to come up. Spock had come to stand next to him and there was the slightest little twitch in his posture every so often, displaying nerves to Jim’s mind. Jim grinned at Spock as he pointed at the screen.
“Will that do?”
“Adequate, Mr. Kirk,” Spock replied before glancing at the large scoreboard. “And I would dare to say that is admirable.”
Jim followed Spock’s eyeline and let out a whoop of delight. They had done it. Without Pike and with the distraction of worry that had been nagging at him, Bones and Spock all day, they had won. Gold for Team U.S.A. and Jim was once more part of an unruly mob aka his teammates.
oOo
Chapter three here
A/N: For those who want to know what the vault looks like that Jim does in this chapter and why it's so insane, here's two videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuxL6QUP2oM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFQEP0v3d3U
Also "longs" are what the long white pants are called in men's gymnastics
Please note that the pairings and warnings are for these chapters only.