#side! sulu x canonical's hubby

[pollyna]

(wip?: past!mckirk but present & future!mckirk, side!nyota/spock/gaila, side!sulu/canonical hubby

mckirk au they used to be engaged: all the crew of the Enterprise doesn't get how or why Dr McCoy and Captain Kirk know each other so well when they barely talk to each other when they have to, let alone when they're alone. The shuttlecraft isn't the first place they saw each other but no one believes either of them when they say they used to be engaged to be married because it's too wild even for them who are going to explore the unexplored.

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They used to be this perfect, young thing where Leo had aspirations and Jim's one was even bigger and they were both going in the same places so why not? Nineteen and the world in the palm of their hands, kissing at every corner in Leo's house and sharing peaches and cold tea, waiting for nothing more than two pieces of paper and then freedom. That never came. Not for both of them together and it would take years before their friendship could have that name, because what did Nyota see at the beginning? It was just a chapter of many.

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Nothing really big or dramatic happend when they decided to broke up, like maybe, probably, someone would have tried to kiss Jim during a party because he was still Jim but nothing really came out of it? It was probably more the realisation of what would have implied going that far, together and being without all the support they had until that very moment. Leonard long hours studying and then at work, Jim projects and ungodly hours, a home to tend to at the top of everything and maybe, it was a little too much and they were a little too young.

(How it works: they sit on the same side of the table, the third week of their mission. Jim is tired and Leonard has the most prominent dark circles under his eyes everyone, but Jim has ever seen. Jim's head slips on Leonard''s shoulder, Bones even if he still doesn't call him that but he does in his head, and Leonard's arm around his waist, singing a new version of Sweet Home Alabama that says, Sweet Home Georgia.)

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And the crew just doesn't get why don't try again when they're so compatible and they still have that something half of the people can only hope to find in a relationship. None of them really has an answer for Nyota's constant pesting, Spock's logical points of view or Hikaru's way of remembering years passed and now they're grown adults, doesn't matter how many times Leonard calls Jim kid and gets an old man back, because they're different people now.

(How it continue to work: Jim sends Leo a piece of peach pie, handmade and with fresh peaches in, the day of David's anniversary and Leonard has a medkit just for Jim and fills it with three different kinds of snacks with fruit and vegetables blend in because he knows he won't eat them when he's on an away mission.)

((Soundtrack: If it don't work out by Anthony D'Amato, Take care of yourself by Maisie Peters, Only place I call home by Every Avenue, New Constellations by Ryn Weaver))