Chapter Text
Over the years, Jim and Bones had gotten better at sneaking things into and out of each other’s houses.
It was for no ignoble or sordid purpose, even if it may have seemed that way at first glance.
No, simply put, Bones brought the snacks and Jim brought the movies.
Jim liked the ones about space and aliens and adventures. He liked the heroics, the daring acts of bravery, the self-sacrificing nature of his favorite characters. Bones liked to point out the plot holes and criticize the acting, but if he didn’t enjoy it, he wouldn’t have come over.
The snacks were equally important. Bones was very familiar with what Jim could and couldn’t eat. With Jim’s allergies, Winona tended to be more than a little overprotective and had banned most sugary foods from their household. He felt that was unfair.
In Bones’ words, “Come on, a little indulgence is hardly gonna kill ya.”
And Jim never worried his friend would be careless enough to let him have anything he truly shouldn’t.
They’d known each other since they were babies, practically. Jim had always been playful, but studious. Unfortunately, advancing so quick and being a bit of a know-it-all at times didn’t sit well with the other kids and he was often shunned or bullied.
According to Leonard, he hadn’t enjoyed school at a young age, either. He’d known his damn colors and shapes. He didn’t need anybody to tell him the obvious.
Jim liked that about him.
As time went on, the two gravitated to one another when everyone else was too busy worrying about their social status, gossip chains, and grade averages. They studied with each other and partnered up for just about everything they could. Eventually, the teachers quit trying to pretend they could get Jim and Leonard to integrate with the rest of the class and just assigned them together all the time.
It was better that way. They were happier that way, too. There was no judgment between them, no comparing, no pressuring, and nothing ever felt forced. Their friendship was natural, easy.
By the time high school came around, they’d both acquired a few more unlikely friends (Christine, who wanted to be a nurse, Pavel, the Russian exchange student, and Hikaru, with high hopes of becoming a pilot), but Jim and Bones were closer than ever. To Jim, it was always going to be the two of them together, best friends, and nothing would ever change their dynamic.
But life didn’t always work that way.
* * *
“Father,” Spock said with borderline irritation even as he attempted to beseech him, a hint of childishness slipping into his tone.
“No, Spock,” Sarek said firmly. “Solar flares are highly likely today. To pilot a shuttle so near the star in such conditions is illogical, unsafe, and unnecessary.”
“I do not intend to venture too close to it,” Spock protested.
He was caught up on his studies and bored. Their science ship, designed for data-gathering purposes only, had lost interest to him some months back.
“Regardless, that is my decision. I would be pleased to bring you with me on further research of the solar system’s fifth planet within the week, if you would be amenable to join me then.”
Quite frankly, Spock was growing weary of Sarek’s… micro-managing, as his mother frequently described it. He would have implored Amanda instead, but she was equally against the idea, if not more so. Sarek, it seemed, was also not to be moved.
So be it. He would play the part of obedience and find a better opportunity later, when they were distracted.
Spock inclined his head, faking acquiescence. “Very well, Father.”
The older Vulcan nodded back once, apparently satisfied with Spock’s answer, and turned away to stride down the hallway.
* * *
“Come on, Bones, keep up!”
“God, I hate track. What do they think this is going to achieve, anyway?” Bones panted. “That we’re all going to become professionals or some shit? Fucking ridiculous.”
Jim huffed a laugh, his own breathing getting a little labored. He’d initially slowed down for Bones, but he was starting to feel too tired to go any faster again.
Ahead of them jogged the majority of the class, their conversations carried away in the spring air. Behind them were a few stragglers, but for the most part, the two had managed to keep up fairly well.
“Running’s supposed to be good for you, Bones,” Jim chirped back, though he wasn’t entirely enamored with it, either.
“Oh, yeah? Well, where the hell’s Simmons, then?”
Nobody usually knew where their P.E. teacher went off to. She hardly seemed interested in participating with the rest of them, much less actually teaching.
“Dunno.”
“Great.”
For several minutes, they continued to jog in silence, Bones’ every inhale and exhale gradually starting to sound more like wheezing. Eventually, someone blew the whistle and the both of them let out a sigh of relief as they came to a stop. Bones leaned over, hands on his knees, and caught his breath.
“Wanna come to my place later?” Jim asked, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of a hand. “We could camp out in the yard, tell my parents it’s for some research assignment.”
Bones gave a half-hearted shrug. “Sure. Better than watching my sisters scream at each other.”
Jim snorted. “I just barely win out, huh?”
“Yep. Just barely.”
The twinkle in Bones’ eye when he stood upright again prompted a fond smile from Jim and he slung an arm around his friend’s shoulders as they headed back to the bleachers together.
* * *
“Jim, your room looks like a fucking tornado came through it,” Bones remarked.
“I know, right? And all I ever do is just toss stuff on the floor and never put it away,” Jim deadpanned.
“You’re gonna create a new disease in here.”
“Probably. But when you become a doctor, you’ll get to be the guy who invented a new cure for it.”
“Sounds fun,” Bones replied, only mildly sardonic. “We havin’ dinner with your family before we head out or just gettin’ right to the fake camping?”
Jim shrugged and tossed him a blanket, which he barely caught before it hit his face instead. “Mom’s busy on a call and Dad’s still at work. I don't know where Sam is right now.”
“Alright. But if it rains, let’s just come inside again. I don’t wanna be cold and wet.”
Jim laughed lightly, digging through a pile of clothes on the floor for another blanket. “I thought you didn’t like my room, Bones,” he teased.
“I’ll just sleep on the couch downstairs. I’m sure your mom won’t mind, right?” Bones joked back.
“Well, you basically live here, anyway. It should be fine.”
Surprisingly, it didn’t take too long to find Jim’s tent somewhere in the closet and some sleeping bags, then gather up the rest of their snacks before they were heading out into the backyard together, a slight chill in the air as the sun began to set. There was a grouping of trees just beyond the broken down fence, which they had nicknamed their ‘forest’, even though it was technically too small to really be one.
Setting up the tent took only a few minutes, practiced as they were at camping out together, and then Jim lit a small fire in the stone pit while Bones prepared their food for the evening.
“You want s’mores or s’mores, Jim?”
“Hm.” Jim pretended to think for a moment, rubbing his chin with his fingers consideringly as he came over to sit on the blanket they’d laid out in front of the tent. “I’ll have s’mores tonight.”
“Good choice.”
“Thanks. I thought so, too.”
Bones just snorted in response.
For a while, the only sounds around them were the crackling of the fire and the light breeze rustling the new spring tree leaves as they munched away on their snacks.
Nights like these were some of Jim’s favorites. Really, any time he got with Bones was the most relaxed he ever felt. Bones was his safe haven, his sheltered harbor in the chaos of normal life. It was peaceful together, and calming.
Jim hoped they’d always know each other, stay in each other’s lives after graduation, take the time out of their schedules to see each other. He couldn’t imagine life without him.
Truthfully, Jim had started to find himself almost wanting more, had begun to notice that Bones meant something to him that no one else ever had. But he kept those feelings secret, for fear of losing the only person he’d ever been able to fully entrust himself to, body, mind, and soul.
“You alright?” Bones drawled from beside him on the blanket, startling Jim out of his thoughts. His gaze, half-illuminated in the flickering light of the fire, was contemplative as he studied him.
Jim tried not to squirm under his friend’s keen eyes, knowing Bones would pick up on it.
“Yeah, fine. You?” His nonchalance felt more than a little forced, caught out as he felt after having gotten lost in things he’d rather not admit.
Bones gave a noncommittal hum.
“Weather seems nice, at least,” Jim commented in an attempt to change the subject.
“Yeah. Guess I won’t have to sleep on your couch after all.”
Jim smiled and nudged Bones’ shoulder with his own playfully.
“Guess not.”
As the fire slowly died down, they fell into companionable silence again, retreating to the sleeping bags when Bones started to lean on Jim a little too heavily for him to disguise as mere friendliness and not exhaustion from far too many nights spent studying late.
Even within the confines of the tent, Jim lay awake, the affection in his chest he felt for Bones keeping him warm as he listened to best friend’s gentle breathing.
* * *
Displays in the shuttle were blinking alarmingly, warnings for various system failures taking up every screen, dials showing readouts far too high in all functions. The vehicle shuddered under the weight of punishing gravity and violent turbulence, engines struggling to maintain a steady descent, the bow of the shuttle catching fire as it cut through the atmosphere at a speed Spock feared he would not be able to get back under control.
Unfortunately, he had grown distracted by his unfamiliar surroundings and gotten caught in the planet’s gravity well.
Perhaps he should have listened to his father after all.
Spock could already imagine Sarek’s reaction, the quiet disapproval, the lectures sure to follow. And Amanda would be no better, her disbelief at his recklessness, the many times she’d warned him of the dangers of her home planet, her fear for his safety likely to manifest in long bouts of emotionality, perhaps crying, or maybe shrill… yelling, for lack of a better word.
Spock had certainly not intended to land on Earth, or anywhere else, for that matter. He’d only wanted a closer look at some of the interesting sights of the solar system his mother had originated from.
This was going to be quite difficult to explain.
Assuming he survived at all.
* * *
The following morning was an early one for Jim, as they usually were. Bones was not a morning person by virtually any definition of the term and was still passed out when Jim woke. Smiling to himself, Jim tucked his friend more securely into the blanket sprawled over him and left the tent, heading into the house to grab more water bottles for them and use the bathroom.
Bones was just stirring when he returned, emerging from the tent with his hair askew and squinting in the morning light.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Jim greeted cheerfully, offering him one of the bottles.
Bones grunted a reply and took it, uncapping and downing about half before he abruptly paused and swallowed one last time.
“This ain’t coffee,” he said with a suspicious glare as he held it away from himself.
“We’ll have to wait to make any till Mom leaves. She doesn’t approve of me having it.”
Bones raised a reproachful eyebrow. “No offense to her, but that’s just downright ridiculous.”
“Yeah, maybe. But y’know, over-protectiveness or something.” Jim shrugged indifferently. “Anyway, it’s the weekend, so…”
“So?”
“So, what do you wanna do? We didn’t really make any plans past camping out.”
Bones mimicked his shrug. “I dunno. Go out to eat, watch movies, go for a hike. Whatever we want.”
“Alright, how about we—”
Jim stopped himself, frowning. Was that the faint sound of a jet engine? They didn’t usually get planes flying anywhere near his house.
“What’s wrong?” Bones asked confusedly as he gave Jim a quizzical look.
“Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Hear… that.”
The sound was getting louder, closer.
Bones’ brow furrowed and he cocked his head. Jim looked to the clear blue sky, scanning for anything capable of making such a loud noise. At last, he spotted it: a small, dark shape rapidly getting larger, leaving a trail of white smoke behind it. It didn’t appear to be a plane from so far away, but Jim couldn’t tell what it was.
“Bones, look.” He patted his friend’s arm to get his attention and pointed. It only took a moment for Bones to see it.
“Holy shit. What is that?”
“It almost looks like it’s heading… here.”
“No, that can’t possibly…”
Bones trailed off as he realized Jim was right. It was heading right for them.
“Fuck. What do we do?”
“Uh. Run? I don't know.”
“Fuck,” Bones repeated. “Jim, it’s getting really close!”
Their voices were getting harder to hear as the strange object drew nearer and nearer.
“I think it’s going to crash!” Jim tried to shout over the dull roar of its engines, watching in horror as it flew right over his house, so close he could feel the air it was moving through blowing across them both in a wave of heat.
On instinct, he snapped out of his stupor and dove towards Bones, tackling him as the object passed over them, too. Bones hit the ground on his back with a muffled oof as the sound got somewhat fainter, followed by a thunderously loud crash not too far from them.
They both froze for at least ten seconds, breathing hard, waiting for anything else to happen.
When nothing did, Bones shifted underneath him, clearly annoyed.
“Ow! Dammit, Jim.”
“Sorry, Bones.”
Jim scrambled to get off his friend, brushing the dirt from his jeans before offering a hand to help Bones upright again, which he accepted. His heart was pounding in shock and fear. Bones’ breathing was still ragged when he met Jim’s eyes with the same look Jim was sure he had on his own face.
“What the hell just happened?” Bones’ voice had the slightest tremor to it.
“Dunno. Are you okay?” Jim asked, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder and eyeing him with concern.
“Yeah, just… oh my god,” Bones breathed out, eyes huge and wide.
Jim’s gaze slowly followed his friend’s line of sight, through the trees with newly broken branches, bark faintly smoking with the speed and heat of whatever had collided with it, past the undergrowth that was now burning, lit up by small fires in various places, past everything that had been utterly eviscerated by something capable of that level of destruction.
Then he saw where it’d landed. From that distance, it looked big, bigger than a car. Maybe even bigger than three or four cars. Clearly, it was made of some type of metal, but not a kind Jim had ever seen or probably even heard of. It just lay there in the clearing it’d partially created like a crashed UFO.
As Jim stared at it, trying to make his brain believe what his eyes were seeing, he wondered if it was a crashed UFO.
“Let’s go take a closer look,” he said, not glancing back to the side to see the expression on Bones’ face that was sure to be equal parts disbelief and dismay at his stupidity.
“Are you insane?” Bones hissed. “We don’t know what that thing even is. Or what’s inside it, for fuck’s sake. We should go back in the house and call the damn police.”
“Just for a minute, Bones. Come on.”
Jim didn’t wait for his friend’s response. He sprinted across the yard to the fence, choosing a spot more broken down than the others to climb over to the opposite side, where the trees started. Carefully, he began creeping forward through their little forest, wincing slightly every time he accidentally broke a stick or dead leaves crackled underfoot.
Soon enough, the tell-tale sound of another pair of shoes landing on the ground nearby came to his ears.
“Jim,” Bones whisper-yelled, his own quick footsteps showing his intention to follow him despite the protestation. “It could be from a foreign government. Hell, it might’ve been sent here to spy on us and you just wanna pop it open for a look?”
“I don’t think it’s from another government,” Jim whispered back, finding himself unable to look away from the thing before him, fascinated by its alienness.
“What, you think it’s from our own?”
“No.”
Bones’ footsteps abruptly stopped. Jim stopped, too, and looked back at him. His face had gone pale.
“You don’t think it’s from our planet at all, do you?” He said faintly, his tone making it sound less like a question and more like a statement.
“Well, we’re not going to figure it out standing all the way over here,” Jim replied simply.
They were maybe fifty feet away from the object now, small pops and sizzles filling the air as the little fires around them burned. Jim couldn’t explain the pull he felt towards the vessel. There was something important about it, he was sure.
He had to see.
More importantly, he needed to know.
Curiosity and that same pull drove him onwards, beginning his careful approach again.
“Fine,” Bones spoke up, this time much closer, practically at Jim’s side. “But if we get tortured, killed, and eaten by whatever’s in there, I’m blaming you.”
“I’d expect nothing less, Bones.”
They forged onwards together, slowly, watching for any signs of movement ahead. Bones’ breathing sounded loud in Jim’s ear. His own heartbeat still thudded hard in his chest with anticipation and adrenaline, preparing for a fight-or-flight response.
It felt as though the seconds had slowed, his awareness narrowing to Bones beside him and the strange object in their line of sight. He couldn’t help imagining what, or who, they would find, what sort of exciting or dangerous discovery they were about to make.
It seemed forever and yet no time at all until they reached the small clearing, just close enough to see words printed on the side of the object in a script Jim didn’t recognize.
There appeared to be windows on what must’ve been the front of it, buried partway into the dirt, but the glass (or whatever it was made of) was too dark to see through. The majority of the vessel rested on the ground itself, while the back end stuck up slightly at an awkward angle. It was definitely bigger than he’d originally thought.
Jim stepped inside the clearing, Bones eyeing it with distrust as he stayed on the perimeter.
“Ain’t this close enough?” He muttered.
“I don’t think so,” Jim responded quietly. “Come on, Bones. What if someone’s hurt in there?”
Bones hesitated, looking conflicted for a long moment. Eventually, it seemed that comment was enough to get him to make several tentative steps to Jim again, glancing at him with more nervousness in his expression than Jim had expected to see there.
“Left my damn first aid kit in the backyard,” he grumbled. “So if you’re right, I’ll have to run back to get it. And if you’re not, we’re screwed.”
Jim just smiled and shook his head, facing the object again. Slowly, he reached out a hand to touch the side, Bones’ sharp intake of breath as he did so telling him exactly what he thought of that decision.
“Jim,” he said with a note of warning. “Be careful.”
“I know, Bones.”
The material felt surprisingly cool beneath his palm and unlike anything Jim had ever encountered before, confirming his theory that it couldn’t have been made with any kind of metal that existed on Earth.
“I’m going to try to find an opening,” Jim said, pulling his hand back and scanning the UFO for any signs of an entrance.
He began to carefully circle it, giving the back half a wider berth since that seemed to be where the engines were and the only part still letting off too much heat to get close to. Bones followed him, but by the time they’d reached the same place they’d begun, neither one of them had found anything.
The object was seamless, aside from the windows somewhat buried in the front, which came partially around to the sides. It was no clearer where an entrance might’ve been, if there was one at all.
“Maybe it really is just a drone,” Bones suggested almost hopefully.
“No, there’s gotta be someone in there. They need our help. I can feel it.”
“Jim, I don’t—”
A loud hissing sound interrupted him and the two of them yelped and jumped back at the same time, Jim instinctively throwing an arm out in front of Bones to protect him.
“What the hell was that?” Bones said quietly, gripping the back of Jim’s shirt as if he intended to pull him away.
“It sounded like it came from the other side,” Jim whispered, heart pounding in his ears again.
“But we just checked there.”
“Something must’ve changed.”
“Jim, I really don’t know about this.”
“Let’s just take a quick look. We’ll stay back,” Jim tried to reassure him, just as scared himself, but his curiosity winning out, anyway.
He didn’t move until he saw Bones’ jerky nod in the corner of his eye. Then Jim lowered his arm and Bones slowly let go of his shirt. The two of them crept side by side around the UFO once more, listening for what else might give them some indication of what they were about to see, if anything.
And Jim’s blood went cold in his veins the moment they stepped past the front to get a clear view of the opposite side once more.
Where they’d just examined only a minute before, there was an opening in the object, a door that had slid aside to reveal the interior. Standing just inside of it, watching them warily, was an alien.
Or it must’ve been, because Jim had never seen anything like them before.
Pointed ears, upswept eyebrows, a faint green tinge to their skin, with dark, silky hair that fell over their forehead. They looked young, maybe as young as Jim and Bones. The design of the clothes they wore was unfamiliar, long pants and strange shoes with a fancy robe that seemed just as alien as the humanoid before them.
And some green liquid was leaking from their side, staining those clothes.
“Oh my god,” Bones repeated from earlier, more shock in his tone than fear now. “They’re hurt, Jim.”
“Holy shit,” Jim said eloquently.
“We need to help.”
“Yeah.” His mind was reeling. For some reason, despite being the person who’d pushed for them to investigate what was going on, he found he had no idea how to react when faced with it.
There was an actual alien standing in front of them.
“Jim,” Bones said more forcefully. “I need my first aid kit. Can you run back and get it?”
“Yeah,” Jim replied faintly.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, okay. Be careful,” he echoed Bones, some distant part of him wondering if it was really a good idea to leave him alone with this being, if it was really safe.
Bones gave his arm a light squeeze and Jim could see in his gaze the determination that always appeared when someone needed help.
“Jim, it’s fine. Hurry.”
But just as he’d turned away, he heard something that made him freeze again.
“Wait.”
Both Jim and Bones’ heads simultaneously snapped towards the alien in surprise, mouths falling open to gape at it. The alien’s dark eyes flicked back and forth between them, not necessarily cold, but calculating as they observed the two.
“I have a medkit within my shuttle.”
“You can speak our language?” Jim asked in disbelief, somehow able to form a coherent thought all of a sudden.
“Yes,” they said simply, as if that should be obvious. “If you wish to help me, I would be grateful.”
“Who are you?”
A brief look of uncertainty passed over the alien’s features and they glanced away, as if thinking.
“Are you allowed to tell us?” Bones asked, almost hesitant.
“I…” After another moment of them obviously feeling conflicted, they seemed to make up their mind and met Jim and Bones’ gazes again with more confidence. “I am Spock.”
“Spock,” Jim echoed, the name (or title, perhaps) settling on his tongue as though it belonged there.
“You’re not from around here, are ya, Spock?” Bones said dryly.
Spock just lifted a condescending eyebrow at him.