nexus_crossings | +1 small, superpowered boy

+1 small, superpowered boy

Today is a day Alex is especially glad he brought his pocket notebook with him, as it means he can take notes on the weird PSA. He doesn't seem scared, or even particularly surprised, as he jots down some quick things to remember to ask his dad about later - interdimensional stuff sounds like something out of his dad's sci-fi movie collection - and makes a note to himself to look for the door home after no more than an hour. That's probably enough time to look around around without also being so long his parents will notice and get worried.

Once he's got his notebook stashed away again, he starts off towards the direction he's fairly sure he came from, just to make sure the door is there. After a few moments, he winces and clutches his head. Apparently, headaches could travel across dimensions, too. Biting his lip, he carefully looks around, trying to gauge which adult looks the least likely to be annoyed by a kid. Eventually, when the headache throbs especially badly, he gives up that endeavor to approach the nearest person who doesn't look clueless and asks, as politely as he can manage, "Do you know where I can get some aspirin? My head is killing me and it's been long enough since I took some I can have some more. I think."

If time worked the same across dimensions it would have been easier to tell, but alas.

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Jim can't help the way he grins down at the kid as he hops up to his feet and puts away the PADD to finish his work later. He hands around the Imperial desk often enough that he's sure whoever's guarding the portal today will know immediately that the device is his and he'll be coming back for it later if he stows it away there.

"Alex? Good to meet you. Where are you from?" Jim would be equal parts embarrassed and amused to know Alex finds anything cool about his middle name. Or that he knows it in general. "Some version of Earth, maybe? I'm from there. Riverside, Iowa to be exact. Small town in middle America."

If it helps Alex take his mind off the pain then Jim doesn't mind talking about his home. It's not usually a topic for much discussion but he's trying to find some thread of commonality between himself and this child. They won't have to head too far away to find one of the many first aid stations in the Nexus. Jim sets about pulling one kit open and looking for the necessary aspirin. There's a lot more in these things than you'd think one would need, but not every species has the same needs.

"Here's an aspirin. Hold this while I put everything else away." A little foil pill packet is handed to Alex in short order. "Let me get you something to drink. Anything in particular you'd like?"

Alex would normally have more questions, especially when meeting the Captain Kirk. There's still some questions forming in the back of his mind, regardless, but the headache bypasses that in importance. He's learned to prioritize his own health, no matter what cool thing is going on.

"Earth, yeah. I'm from Maine. Bangore, originally, but then we moved into my great-grandpa's house after he died, and that's in the middle of nowhere in Maine. There's a lot of forests and creepy old houses." With a sigh, he adds, "And no ghosts. I checked. Does Iowa have ghosts?" Please say yes, so he can go investigate at some point.

Talking him through it was definitely the smart move. It helps take his mind off of the dull pounding in his skull. At least they're getting to this in the beginning stages, instead of the miserable experience of only treating it when it was bad enough to wake him up. This isn't too bad. Jim acts like he knows what he's doing, which is a major comfort. He has all the confidence of Alex's father, despite being much younger, leading to, out of nowhere, this comment: "You'd make a good dad, Jim."

He takes the pill packet, picking at the foil immediately. "Um, anything is fine to drink except caffeine. I can't have that, but other than that I'm not really picky."

"Maine? I actually haven't been up that way very much. I've spent quite a few years in the Bay Valley area, San Francisco? Over in California. A bit of time in London, but most of my time if you can believe such a thing is spent out in space."

You know, like one does. Jim tries to make it sound casual, like that's an ordinary thing a guy can do for work. And for Jim it is but he's been in the Nexus long enough to know that for most folks that is definitely not the case. Last thing he wants to do is talk down to Alex though, so it's best to be casual. Friendly.

Other words that derail into a record scratch of 'what the fuck' the second Alex pipes up that Jim would make a good father. It doesn't help that he was subsequently thrilled the kid called him Jim instead of Mr. Kirk and then his stomach dropped into his left pinky toe somewhere before it was shot out of an airlock by the feel of it.

Jim Kirk? Someone's dad? He sure hopes not. (It's not impossible either and that makes him sweat more than a little.)

What he actually does instead of barking out an awkward laugh and freaking out is pastes on a friendly smile and nods once without saying anything and the subject blissfully moves on once more.

"No caffeine, got it. What about sugar?" There's caffeine free options for soda around here but it puts most tea or coffee right out. Not that kids usually like coffee anyway that's Jim's own caffeine addiction talking. Water is easy enough too. "Can get a bottle of water or a non caffeinated root beer out of that vending machine by the look of it."

He's quick to get whichever Alex likes either way before handing it over.

"What's space like?" He lives in a relatively nice part of Maine, but space is space. It's instantly more interesting and cooler than anywhere he's ever been in his life, and now Alex is truly hanging on Jim's every word.

Jim is pretty cool. He's not talking down to Alex, he's helping him out, he works in space, and he seems really mellow. If Alex can figure out how, he's definitely bringing him some babka from home the next time he can duck back in and out. Or sugar cookies. Or both, possibly, since they might not have those in space and that's a depressing thought indeed.

This is a preview of parenthood, Jim. Children often offer up nonsequiturs. Alex is not an exception to this rule, although he's gotten better about not being as out of the blue as he used to be, but still, he says things without a filter. He looks at Jim a little oddly - that laugh was awkward - and then switches back to the more important topic.

"Sugar's okay in small doses. I'm not really allowed to have candy, though." He's had some bad sugar headaches in his day. Chewing on his lower lip thoughtfully, he decides, "Water's always good."

He gives Jim a quick smile when the space captain hands him the water, grateful.

Bottle of water it is. Jim's smile relaxes into something easier again at that quiet, grateful smile. Something about kids especially at this age always catch his attention whether he means for them to or not. It wasn't ever a thing in the Academy or on the ship but now that Jim's stationed on Yorktown he's gotten to meet all kind of civilians and their families. He's babysat Demora Sulu for his pilot's date nights with his husband more than a handful of times now. He likes her and he likes Alex.

"Space? It's--" Everything Jim has ever wanted. The unknown, the freedom, the thrill of an adventure and the hunger for knowledge all sated by this big open void. He misses it so much it's a sickness. Jim's smile is brighter than it's been before. "It's the only place I ever want to be, these days. You get used to the artificial gravity and most of your food and drink being replicated rather than fresh. Small price to pay to get to work out in the Black. Have you ever been on a plane before?"

Impossible to tell just by Alex's clothes, but Jim's guessing shuttles and transport stations aren't the way folks get around in Alex's world just yet.

Edited 2018-12-15 14:39 (UTC)

He pops the aspirin into his mouth and washes it down with the water, gratefully. The promise of relief is instant, making some of the tension ease out of his shoulders. There's always something good about that moment where he knows he's taken care of the problem. And even if Jim Kirk doesn't think of himself as dad material, he's handled this like a dad would - quickly, without getting annoyed, and with a smile.

Space is a good distraction from his currently remaining headache. There's little that can top space in his mind; it's the last real unknown in life. Sometimes he looks up documentaries on it online when he can't sleep. To talk to somebody who's been there is the coolest thing ever. "It sounds amazing. I think I'd miss my mom's challah bread in space, but other than that, it'd be totally worth it, yeah." He's a momma's boy, through and through. "I've been on a couple of planes. That's the only way to go visit my grandparents and my Uncle Leo and his family. They live up in the Arctic Circle. It's kind of boring, but you can see all the stars really clearly there, and that far up, they're not in the same positions anymore they were in Maine."

He's not a space expert, but even he can tell when the North Star is in a different place. Besides, he wants Jim to think he's cool, and not a lot of people have been up that far north. It's not as cool as space, but it's something, anyway. Sadly, he hadn't gotten to see a polar bear, last time, despite trying to bait a trap for one with his cousin. Now, that would've been cool.

They've addressed the problem and Jim's doing his damndest to keep Alex good and distracted form his pains and discomfort in the meantime. There's an awful lot about Jim he's better at than he gives himself credit for. If the idea of children didn't scare him witless he might be more willing to admit he really does like them. Has a way with them.

"You do miss fresh food and drink. Anytime I get planetside the first thing I do is get a fresh cup of coffee and a burger. Doesn't matter from where, could be the worst dive bar food on the planet and it'd still be better than the replicated stuff." Not that replicated food is Wrong in any sense. It's just rather bland compared to the real thing. "Being on a ship is kind of like being on a plane all the time, just outside the atmosphere. Takes some folks a while to get used to the artificial gravity or the constant thrum of the engines."

Though captain Kirk trails off when Alex starts talking about the Arctic.

"Now that's got to be one pretty place. What do your Uncles' family do up there? Are they just that fond of the outdoors or are they geologists maybe?"

Jim's efforts are appreciated. Alex can always tell when someone's trying to help, and it's nice to see someone he doesn't know try so hard to make this okay. If he didn't think it might be awkward, he'd give Jim a hug. But adults get weird about hugs, sometimes, so instead he listens with rapt attention. He'd never thought before that space might have downsides to it.

"I've never had replicated food. Is it really different from normal food? Also, coffee is kind of gross. I like it when my mom makes it, but she puts stuff in it to fix the taste." As opposed to his dad's black coffee, which is truly horrific. How anyone can stomach it, he doesn't know. Maybe it's something he'll get when he gets older. "I sleep better when there's a background noise. The engines on a spaceship probably wouldn't bother me."

Oh, cool, Captain Kirk thinks he's interesting! Best day ever. He perks up, too, at the thought of his cool Uncle Leo, who is both mildly crazy and deeply awesome. "He's an archaeologist. So's his wife, my Aunt Timmiaq. They met at work and she's from there, so they decided to live there. It's really beautiful. You can see the Northern Lights, and the houses are all painted bright colors so they stand out in the snow. The sky looks really big, too, without any trees. I don't know if it's as cool as space, but I like it."

"You know how sometimes when you reheat leftovers it can taste a bit like a kind of bland copy of the good food that was made the day before? That's replicator food just, all the time. It's not bad by any means and you do get used to it but the second any of us get leave we're mostly real eager to put fresh food in our faces."

There's a chuckle then from captain Kirk and he gives Alex's shoulder the most gentle of nudges to go along with his laugh but he doesn't want to jostle the head achey child too much. He'd feel awful if he made the kid worse.

"I do too. It's always hard to sleep now when I'm off-ship. It just doesn't sound right." The thrum of the warp engines has become one of the sounds of Home to Jim and it's a pretty difficult thing to replace with anything else.

"Archaeology! I've always had a passing interest but I have to admit my science department probably loathes my input more than welcomes it. I know just enough to be in the way and lack the knowledge to really be helpful past a shallow overview. And well, my view's always been turned upward instead of down." The sky is so big, Alex says, and Jim can't help but want to see that. It must look magical.

"Someday you can study space as much as you'd like. NASA's a thing in your time right?"

"Yup. I guess I thought maybe science where you're from would have fixed that problem, though. If you can make food, then making tasty food seems like it should be a thing." He wonders if there's food scientists working on it. That would be a great job - getting to taste food all day after science-ing.

He smiles up at Kirk, not bothered by the nudge. It's prolonged physical contact that sounds like a bad idea right now. This is fine. Actually, this is pretty cool, all things considered. Sure, he has a headache, but he's getting to talk to a guy who works in space!

"I sleep better in winter when the heater in my room is rumbling. It's harder to get to sleep when I visit the rest of my family, although my mom says that's because people get attached to their own beds." Which was a valid point. His bed has the cool comforter with the blue and white star pattern on it; it's pretty dope, as his cousin would say.

Alex chuckles, ducking his head. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. But that's kind of how I am about languages. I know some stuff, since my relatives speak different ones and I always ask my mom for books on them. When I talk to grown ups, though, I don't know enough to keep up and I guess it's kind of annoying to them." A portion of his time in Nunavut had been spent pestering his Aunt Timmiaq to teach him Inuktitut, something she'd indulged him in more than most. She was pretty nice about it, but a lot of adults have no patience for a kid's random questions.

"Yeah, NASA's a thing. I don't know if I'm smart enough to study space, but I'd like to try, someday."

"Don't even let anyone tell you you're not smart enough to study something. People are all fundamentally the same. We've got unique talents and interests but if you want to be good at something all you have to do is work hard at it."

Jim squats down so he's at Alex's level then. This is kind of important so he definitely doesn't want to talk down to the kid to say so.

"You might have to work harder than someone else who picks it up easier. But if you like it and you want to do it? You just keep at it. They let me into Starfleet and when I went in the only thing I was known for was being a repeat offender. I was in jail before I started at the Academy."

Alex hugs him. He can't help it. He knows some grown ups don't like hugs, but he's never had somebody spell out to him so bluntly that they believe in him. And he wasn't aware of how much he needed to hear that until somebody said it to him. When was the last time his dad had ever told him he could do something, instead of telling him how he couldn't?

He sniffles, dangerously close to crying, which is super embarrassing because he's not a little kid anymore and he doesn't want Jim to think he's uncool. "My dad says with my condition I can't really do... most things I wanna do when I get older, actually. And I try and try and nothing's ever good enough because even when I work my hardest it's not as fast or as good as other kids. It's really never as good or fast as my dad at my age."

And then there was Jim, telling him that it was still worth it to try, telling him that you could screw up, end up in jail and still pull it together and go do great things. If he were older he might verbalize all the things that made him feel.

But he's not good at that, so he just clings onto Jim tightly.

Oh. Oh.

There's a child in Jim's arms, small fingers digging in to the fabric of his uniform and a sniffle in his ear and suddenly all the panic, fear, and reasoning flies somewhere out the window as Jim Kirk pulls Alex into a hug to hold the kid steady. Everyone's families are different but all Jim can think of is how he never had anyone to do this for him growing up and how if he could help it this kid wasn't going to feel the way he did all those years ago.

"Well, your dad might know a lot more than I do about you and your conditions. But I don't....really...believe in no-win scenarios. There's got to be something you can do that's still in your field of interest when you're my age." His chest aches for the emotions he can hear in Alex's voice. Kids, man.

Jim really does like them.

"It's a bad habit of mine. Too stubborn to be told no or that something's impossible."

Jim may not know it, but he gives pretty good hugs. At least, Alex thinks so. He doesn't hesitateor get awkward like Alex's dad does, he just hugs back, and the eleven year old can't help wishing he had a big brother like this. It would be cool to have somebody around who he can talk to besides his mom. He blinks back tears - he's grown up now, it's cool - and tries to pull it together as he listens to Jim talk.

"I have migraines all the time, I get tired really easily, and I'm not very strong. I can't be normal. I try, but I just can't. And I dunno if somebody with my problems can really do anything cool as a grown up." What is he supposed to do, when he's plagued by headaches, gets photosensitive so regularly, is exhausted midway through every day? Nobody he knows who's an adult with an actual job is like this. They're not weak like he is. "The only thing I'm stubborn about is languages. I taught myself a bunch, with some help from my family and books. I can talk even when I'm tired. But - they don't really have jobs just for that, do they?"

Medical talk has always been his best friend's field of expertise rather than Jim's but the captain nods along with everything Alex says regardless. Whatever this kid's going through isn't easy on him. Doesn't take being a CMO to know that much. When Alex pulls away Jim lets him go, rocking back on his heels from where he's squatting. Trying to look calm and reassuring when internally he's panicking about making a kid nearly cry.

Maybe it was the pain getting to him, or maybe this whole situation finally got to be too much. But Jim Kirk's the only adult here right now so he's just going to have to do his best to help Alex through this.

"Not every job makes someone be up on their feet all day, you know? I bet if you looked around there might be some way to do school at a pace you could handle. Like on...line?" Is that what they called it back then? Jim honestly struggles a whole lot with what a majority of the humans in the Nexus call 'modern' Earth. It's so ancient for him. "And sure, linguists are useful in all kinds of fields. If you want to do that for a job, you just keep studying and then find a field you can apply it to and slowly start studying that, too."

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+1 small, superpowered boy

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