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?).
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"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."
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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."
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"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."
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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."
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