Caught in a bad romance

[sharpestscalpel]

The locked console gave a gentle trilling chime and McCoy looked over at it.

It didn't make that sound very often but, from the slowly spreading smile on his face, it was evident that he appreciated when it did.

The smile only widened as he read the communication sent from Earth. He readjusted himself in his pants as he scanned the words a

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[sharpestscalpel]

McCoy moved back to his bar, poured another couple of generous drinks for them both.

It was early in the day but fuck, it was vacation.

He waited until Kirk had his drink in hand and he'd settled himself on the other end of the sofa, turned to face his guest.

"I reckon you can pass the time telling me about Tarsus IV."

[behnd_blueyes]

Kirk just barely avoided spilling the drink all over the couch. As it was, the amber liquid sloshed up to the rim before he noted his tilting hand and righted it, staring at the appendage as if he could not remember whose it was.

"That's--" His voice was suddenly hoarse, and he noted his mouth was entirely dry. Unthinking, he downed more than half the drink at once, coughing as it burned a trail to his suddenly bottomless gut. "That's classified."

[sharpestscalpel]

McCoy looked around and nodded at the drink in Kirk's hand.

"And I reckon I've earned the security clearance to hear about it."

[behnd_blueyes]

McCoy's liquor was good, but it wasn't that good. Not yet, anyway. "Your little woman dig this up? Who'd she marry, again?" He wasn't stalling. Okay, he was, but he hadn't expected this, not out of the blue like this. For McCoy to have asked, now, he had to have been told recently.

Kirk didn't like thinking about it. Even less so now, when the memories looked too much like the mirror.

"If you know I was there, you know when," he said, finally looking up though only with his eyes. It gave him a hooded, haunted look, unconsciously mimicking those he saw in his mind's eye. "So you know I turned 14 during the famine and the massacre. I survived. You do the math."

[sharpestscalpel]

"I don't think you really want to try to make me talk about my wife's husband right now."

The thought of her giving it up for that slitdick galled him.

"Math ain't my specialty. And we've got nowhere else to go, Blue. I suspect it's time for you to tell me a goddamn story."

[behnd_blueyes]

What difference did it make now? He downed the rest of his glass. Pike had sealed those records, classified them, because they just complicated matters and he'd liked having that over Kirk. A favor, as well as a juicy tidbit held back. But McCoy wanted a fucking story, he'd give him one. He'd never been all that good at telling them, though. And never told this one

[sharpestscalpel]

McCoy sipped his drink and then sipped at it again, slow and easy.

"And when you came back?"

He'd read all the reports on Tarsus, had been old enough - and mature enough - when it was happening to appreciate the stupidity of it in a way the other bloodthirsty fools in his class had not.

Waste not, want not, his granny had always said. And Tarsus had been pure wasteful.

[behnd_blueyes]

"What?" Kirk looked up, startled, uncharacteristically lost in the memories. He blinked. "Nothing. Nothing happened. No one fucking cared. I was supposed to go back to school, you know? Just... go back to giving head for grades, or something. Being told I ate too much."

He'd been someone on Tarsus.

"So I said fuck it, and left home. Did my own thing until Pike convinced me Starfleet was the answer." He bit that off bitterly. He hadn't had much choice, once Pike was done with him. And part of him had been able to appreciate that Starfleet did offer something to his ambition.

[sharpestscalpel]

His snort was a clear response to that. Pike had convinced McCoy as well - though McCoy's only other option at the time had been a filthy cell and guards who kept slanting distrustful looks his way.

He'd only hurt the one of them.

"Why'd he hide it for you?"

[behnd_blueyes]

"Probably had something to do with my dad," he said. "Pike always had a thing about him. Got the impression he was holding me in reserve for something." He looked at McCoy, tilted his head. He'd said enough. "Where'd he find you?"

[sharpestscalpel]

McCoy's teeth were very white when he smiled.

"The supermax wing of the old US Pen in Atlanta."

[behnd_blueyes]

Kirk's eyes twitched slightly. That was the smile of a predator.

"Guess that's classified, too," he said slowly.

[sharpestscalpel]

His innocent face was good. It had fooled church-goers and over-protective mamas alike.

But there was still something in his eyes, those green and amber pools, that looked like decay: long-past dead, scattered remnants of prey upon whom he had feasted.

"I apparently make some people fucking nervous. Of course, I have no goddamn idea why."

[behnd_blueyes]

It was a toss-up, at this point, whether Kirk feared or admired McCoy more. They were the same thing, really. While justice was a pretty twisted concept in their world, they didn't put you away for nerves. And Kirk couldn't look away.

"Who's got the skinny on you? Other than Pike?"

[sharpestscalpel]

His eyes blazed for a moment, anger restrained and carefully banked for later.

"No fucking clue. Pike called in a goddamn favor or three - which he held over me like a fucking sword but he never would shitting tell me who. He ain't stupid."

McCoy's gaze flickered back over to the console that had been so active.

"Jos, of course. But that's different."

[behnd_blueyes]

The anger had been clear, as close as Kirk had been watching. He didn't think it was for him. But he had to know, however little choice he had about this alliance, how risky a position they were both in. Whatever McCoy had done, it was bad enough.

But he didn't ask if it really was different, or how. He knew he'd have to keep an ear out for this woman. If McCoy thought he could trust her, well... McCoy was crazy.

But he was interested. And that touched Kirk deeper than he knew.

"She knows about me."