It didn't feel like an invasion of personal space, not from Jim. It was a little reminiscent of their Academy years, honestly, when Jim liked to just show up wherever and hang off his shoulder, even when he visited him at the infirmary the first few months he was Captain, before his posture began to change into something more responsible and professional. Leonard missed it, he realized now as he felt that familiar weight on his shoulder. But of course he understood why it couldn't continue, despite how little Jim (and even himself) would have cared for gossip and talk.
"Easy there, farm boy," he huffed with a joking laugh. He pulled the food from the fire, serving it into two bowls so it would be easier for them to eat. "People are gonna start picturing among piles of hay and nice old ladies linin' up to kiss your cheek."
He handed one of the bowls to Jim, along with a spoon. "Here, and careful. It's hot."
"I mean, you're not far off," he accepted the bowl, shivering as the warmth seeped into his fingers. "Except hay isn't kept in piles, it's kept in bales if a farmer knows what's good for them. And old ladies have kissed my cheek because once I somehow got suckered into being part of the kissing booth team."
He had been younger and not quite so much a trouble maker yet. After his incident with the car and his growing list of mischief making occurrences, well, less old nice ladies had been interested in kissing his cheek. Which, honestly, was not much of a loss.
"What were you doing in your youth? Swimmin' down by the crick?" he asked, putting on his best Southern American accent and smirking around his first spoonful at Bones.
That got a genuine laugh out of Leonard, grin bright enough to make his eyes wrinkle at the corners. "Oh, excuse me, Mr. Farmboy. I'll be sure to update my vernacular as to not offend your delicate Midwest sensibilities in the future."
The rest just made Leonard smile wider in amusement. Just the thought of Jim sitting in a kissing booth with a band of ladies all lined up to get their kiss was enough to lift his spirits. He had a feeling Jim would garner the attention of more than just old ladies if he were to man a kissing booth now, though.
"Least we had cricks," he mocked with a nudge of his foot against Jim's, eyes rolling as he stirred his own food, so it'd cool quicker. "Not like in that damn Middle-of-nowhere you come from, where it's so dry my duck don’t know how to swim. Bet you folks wouldn't know a damn body of water if it bit you in the backside."
Kirk jerked his head, batting at his chest to work at the cough that swelled as food threatened to go down the wrong pipe. He managed to get it down, and the coughing turned into a ragged laugh before descending into a full-bellied thing.
"That is possibly the most country-southern thing I have ever heard you say, and that includes the time I was apparently alluded to as a prize stallion."
Jim's reaction admittedly surprised him a little, if only for how exaggerated it seemed to be; but he knew it was just how Jim was, and to be fair his own answer had been purposefully over the top too, so he couldn't talk much.
Still, he was pleased to hear Jim laugh, his own lips curled into a more restrained smile, eyes falling to his food instead of staring at Jim like a fool.
"Well, you liked actin' like one, that's for certain. Prancin' around the Academy like you did," he grumbled. "And I am country-Southern, you should've known what to expect by now."
Overblown? Maybe. But it felt like such a long time since he had felt the freedom to laugh like that, to just let an emotional bubble up and burst out and not worry about whatever impression he was making.
"You mean like I still do, except I get to do it with a ship and not a simulation?" he shook his head around the last huffs of laughter, partaking of a few more bites of soup before it got to cold. He nudged him with his shoulder again and winked. "I'm glad you decided to hitch your wagon to this horse then, gentle sir. Makes a stallion hold his head a little bit higher."
Well, whatever got Jim to smile and laugh like that. God knows he didn't see it often enough, when Jim slipped into his uniform.
He let out a soft groan, eyes rolling and shaking his head. "Lord, that goddamned test you kept taking. Don't even remind me." To this day, he was sure that Spock still held a small grudge for what Jim had pulled. But only a tiny little one by now. "An' don't make those sorts of comparisons, It's gonna scar my brain for life."
"You started it by calling me that in the first place," he countered. "You really should choose your words more wisely when describing me," he smirked, taking a few bites of his stew and adopting the most angelic face one has ever seen. Well, on Kirk anyways (angelic was a relative term for him at the best of times was it not?).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
"Easy there, farm boy," he huffed with a joking laugh. He pulled the food from the fire, serving it into two bowls so it would be easier for them to eat. "People are gonna start picturing among piles of hay and nice old ladies linin' up to kiss your cheek."
He handed one of the bowls to Jim, along with a spoon. "Here, and careful. It's hot."
no subject
He had been younger and not quite so much a trouble maker yet. After his incident with the car and his growing list of mischief making occurrences, well, less old nice ladies had been interested in kissing his cheek. Which, honestly, was not much of a loss.
"What were you doing in your youth? Swimmin' down by the crick?" he asked, putting on his best Southern American accent and smirking around his first spoonful at Bones.
no subject
The rest just made Leonard smile wider in amusement. Just the thought of Jim sitting in a kissing booth with a band of ladies all lined up to get their kiss was enough to lift his spirits. He had a feeling Jim would garner the attention of more than just old ladies if he were to man a kissing booth now, though.
"Least we had cricks," he mocked with a nudge of his foot against Jim's, eyes rolling as he stirred his own food, so it'd cool quicker. "Not like in that damn Middle-of-nowhere you come from, where it's so dry my duck don’t know how to swim. Bet you folks wouldn't know a damn body of water if it bit you in the backside."
no subject
"That is possibly the most country-southern thing I have ever heard you say, and that includes the time I was apparently alluded to as a prize stallion."
no subject
Still, he was pleased to hear Jim laugh, his own lips curled into a more restrained smile, eyes falling to his food instead of staring at Jim like a fool.
"Well, you liked actin' like one, that's for certain. Prancin' around the Academy like you did," he grumbled. "And I am country-Southern, you should've known what to expect by now."
no subject
"You mean like I still do, except I get to do it with a ship and not a simulation?" he shook his head around the last huffs of laughter, partaking of a few more bites of soup before it got to cold. He nudged him with his shoulder again and winked. "I'm glad you decided to hitch your wagon to this horse then, gentle sir. Makes a stallion hold his head a little bit higher."
no subject
He let out a soft groan, eyes rolling and shaking his head. "Lord, that goddamned test you kept taking. Don't even remind me." To this day, he was sure that Spock still held a small grudge for what Jim had pulled. But only a tiny little one by now. "An' don't make those sorts of comparisons, It's gonna scar my brain for life."
no subject