Show Me How To Love You

Chapter 7

If there was an award for avoiding Vulcans, Leonard was pretty sure he could win that with no problem. Not only was he motivated to avoid the man, he also had his excuses. By means of excuses, he had work where he occupied himself in his office even after there wasn't even anymore work to be done. Then when it was too boring for him to even sit at his desk without slamming his head against it, he'd slip back to his quarters to retire for the night. But then Jim always had to come and mess with his peaceful life.

"Jim, if you're here to ask about your goddamn baby again, you're gonna get it." Leonard said as soon as Jim walked into his quarters. They had agreed to hang out, but Leonard had the creeping suspicion that the captain was up to something. Like always.

"What, I can't hang out with you anymore?" Jim acted appalled as he sat next to Leonard on the couch. He grabbed a drink of the bourbon that had been laid out, and took a drink of it. "Man, ever since you guys made the baby, we haven't really been hanging out much."

"Spock did it, not me." Leonard grimaced and leaned back against the couch. He almost shivered in his t-shirt, reasoning that the Enterprise was always so cold. Jim snorted.

"Right, you had no part in that at all." Jim smiled and took another drink. Leonard opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted. "Anyway, let's play chess or something."

"Jim, I ain't Spock. I don't get too much enjoyment over putting things on little squares." Leonard said and grabbed himself some bourbon. "How 'bout a movie?" Jim nodded, and Leonard set them up with some classic choices. As per Jim's request, they started watching Mission Impossible. He couldn't get over the weird feeling that Benji looked a lot like Scotty, though. Maybe they were related somehow.

They had a good old time, until eventually the movie was over, and things were awkwardly silent. Jim started bouncing his leg up and down, so Leonard knew something had to be up. As if reading his mind, Jim said casually, "So there's poker tonight. We should go."

"Poker? Go?" Leonard scoffed. He hasn't played poker in quite a while. "Sure." Jim looked relieved. Which kind of worried Leonard more, but he ignored it.

After all, there was nothing to worry about. All their friends would be there. Spock wouldn't be there, since he didn't appreciate gambling like humans did. Which wasn't really surprising, since even Leonard could see the illogic in it. He'd lost all his money enough times to know that it was a bad idea to play.

But it sure was fun as hell.

When they got to the room where they usually met to play poker, Leonard stopped in his tracks when he met eyes with Spock. He wasn't supposed to be here! He almost turned and ran, but Spock's almost menacing look made him stop. Jim smirked and sat down at the table, the only empty seat being next to Spock. He wanted to punch Jim in his goddamn smug face. He sat down next to the Vulcan, and the rest of the table greeted him warmly.

"Nice to see you again, McCoy." Sulu said, dealing out the cards and giving Leonard and Jim some chips. "Work keeping you from us, or do you just not like us anymore?" Of course the man had the audacity to look hurt. Leonard almost sighed.

"Yeah, I've mainly just been trying to avoid you, Sulu." Leonard grumbled, but Sulu just laughed and everyone went on playing. It was just him, Jim, Spock, Sulu and Uhura. Scotty was usually there, but Leonard knew that Engineering had a minor explosion due to a miscommunication with some ensigns. If he had even a nickel for all the Engineering mishaps he'd have to deal with, he'd be a rich man.

Looking down at his cards, he saw that he had the makings of a pretty good hand. He looked to see Spock playing too. Which really wasn't fair, since he'd be the best at bluffing. Why would he even play in the first place? He felt like all of this was happening just to piss him off. Maybe God really did hate him for killing his da-