Written in the Stars

Chapter 2

November 23, 2256 – Starfleet Academy, San Francisco; California, Earth

Kirk was thrown to the mat of the sparring room, groaning.

"Get up, Kirk." Regina said, nudging him in the ribs with the toe of her boot.

Jim, lying prone on his stomach, only groaned louder in protest.

He heard Regina sigh, pitiless, and beyond the large viewing panel a few muffled snickers echoed as their audience dispersed, their curiosity sated.

Regina watched them leave, her gaze as sharp, deftly flipping a stray blade between her fingers before turning back to Kirk, sheathing the knife at her waist.

"Seriously, James, are you alright?"

"Yeah- yeah, I'm fine." he forced out with a grimace, struggling to sit up, his every muscle aching in denial of his words, "ow- or- you know, no less fine than usual. Besides- pain is perception, right?"

Asking Regina to train with him in close combat had been a double-edged blade, as Kirk had known it would be the moment the words came out of his mouth- therefore he had no one else to blame for getting nicked every so often as he continued to insist on playing with it.

When they had started, Jim specifically requested that Regina hold nothing back- and as a result had found himself floored in about one-point-nine seconds the first time they faced off. He wasn't even upset - there was a reason that she was unrivalled, and why she was the perfect choice to ask for help without having to swallow too much pride, and he had laughed it off ruefully as she offered a hand up and they began again.

The sparring sessions left him mottled with well-earned bruises that Bones muttered over, the tirades frequently including the word masochist and love struck idiot, but Kirk had been improving.

However, the sessions only became harder when people took notice that they were happening. Both of them had reputations to uphold; James Kirk would never ask for help without an ulterior motive, even from the unrivalled combat student of their year, and Regina Peverell would never offer it to someone so weak. And so, to the outside they made it look like just another power-play- Jim wanted the fun of flirting with someone untouchable, and Regina delighted in the opportunity to show she was better.

In Starfleet Academy, Regina had excelled in her field of studies, rocketing to the top of her classes in both security and  xenolinguistics, standing unopposed in the former and tied with Nyota Uhura in the latter.

"Pain is pain." Regina said firmly, heading over to the cabinet built into the wall, the panel sliding aside at her touch. Plucking a familiar silver instrument from the top rack, she returned and knelt next to him. "And a good natural evolutionary indicator for damage. I think I might have gone a little far with that last combination strike, so shut your mouth and hold still."

Jim gave a secretive smile, gazing up at her as she switched on the scanner with a whirr, tilting his chin up with the tips of her fingers- as gentle as in checking his injuries as she was utterly brutal in causing them.

"I'm getting flashbacks."

His heart skipped a beat when Regina's eyes lit with a spark of recognition. "Never a good sign." she said neutrally. Jim chuckled.

Satisfied, Regina replaced the small instrument and snapped the medical cabinet shut. "You're fine. We should probably call time anyway, though."

"You sure, Queenie? I'm good to go again." Kirk replied immediately, standing up and brushing himself off, supressing the sting of fire that jolted through his drained body, seemingly leeching the energy from the marrow of his bones.

"I know. But I have a class at ten."

Jim exhaled, entering in their time of departure into the digital register. The training sessions had taken up a considerable percentage of Regina's fragments of free time- something that Jim would loath to cause usually, knowing how crammed her schedule was and how many electives she was taking.

But he also knew that it was cathartic for Regina, turning herself into a weapon as though it was the most natural thing in the world, and he was in the business of finding ways to make her day a little brighter. Few things that could make her smile, or ease away the tension that was a constant presence in her.

Regina looked away, and Jim realised just how intensely he had been staring at her. He ducked his head, suddenly having a fascination with the floor.

"Bye, James."

She pivoted on her heel and disappeared behind the corner, footsteps fading rapidly.

Jim closed his eyes against the ensuing quiet, ignoring the ghost of her fingers lingering on his.