1.7 - Bar Dates End In Bar Fights

~~*~~

After a conversation with Bones who had asked how Cali was doing since he hadn't seen the man since the first date when he almost caught them, Jim decides to invite Cali to meet his friendship group. Though, Jim did tell him in advance that he wasn't ready to come out as dating a guy yet, so he'd be introducing the man to them as a friend. Cali was really understanding and patient about Jim's struggles with his sexuality and was fine with it, just wanting to meet the people he'd spoken about before.

They entered the little library together and see Bones, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov already sitting at a large table at the edge of the room waiting for them. As he spotted them, Jim called over in greeting and they all turned around and offer their own greetings in return. "Hey guys, this is Cali." He introduced, signalling to Cali as the two joined the table.

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet you all, and to see you again Bones." Cali smiled warmly, looking at them all before landing on Bones.

Bones nodded, replying in his normal gruff voice, "Yeah, nice to see you again Cali."

Chekov quickly offers his hand over the table and gave his own introduction in his heavily accented voice with a large friendly smile on his face, "Hi, I'm Pavel Chekov."

Sulu followed suit, offering his own hand. "I'm Hikaru Sulu."

Uhura smiled across the table sweetly, "Uhura."

Before Cali can say anything, Jim interrupts, "Still won't say your first name in front of me, huh?"

"You're not getting it." She smiles back sarkily.

Laughing, Cali took back over. "Nice to meet you, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu." Cali replied after shaking their hands, his tone as warm as his smile setting all three of them at ease.

They end up all studying together peacefully. Often talking all together while also splitting into their own conversations about the work their were doing while Bones, Sulu and Jim mainly worked on one thing while Cali and Uhura helped Chekov with his mandatory translation work.

Cali and Uhura seemed to get one quite well, both training to be xenolinguists, and bonded over languages.

While Bones had already met Cali briefly, he hadn't really gotten a chance to know him until now. He watched as he happily helped Chekov with the work he struggled with while also joking with Uhura and Jim. He could tell that he would be a good addition to the friendship group and definitely a good friend to Jim. Both Sulu and Chekov agreed with him, enjoying the man's company until they all parted ways, him and Jim walking together.

As they walked away, Jim turned and smiled at Cali, "You seemed to get along with Uhura."

Cali looked over at him with an amused and knowing look, "Well, I find girls are more likely to get on with someone if they aren't constantly flirting with them."

Suddenly called out and slightly worried about the impression him flirting with Uhura might have given his boyfriend, Jim frowned slightly, "It doesn't mean anything."

"I know love," Cali smiled reassuringly, "I'm guessing you've been fliting with her so long that its become more of a game than actually flirting?"

"Yeah." Jim confirmed, laughing, he'd forgotten how understanding Cali was for a moment.

Smirking, Cali decided to jokingly start moaning at Jim about something else, "Why didn't you tell me Chekov was so young?"

Looking over at him as they continued walking, Jim questioned him, confused. "What do you mean? He's sixteen, I think."

Cali's eyes widened, "Sixteen? Bless him."

Laughing slightly, Jim looked over at him properly. "You okay?"

"My species revolves around the literal worship of children. It is ingrained in me to see a child and look after them."

"Right, no wonder you were so interested in him. I thought you liked him."

"No love, don't worry. Not my type even if he was older, he's too sweet."

"And what am I then?"

"A lover." Cali answered with a cheeky and seductive smirk.

"As in 'a lover not a fighter'?" Jim asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, that's Chekov." Cali answered, shaking his head, "You're just a lover. And a good one at that." He flashed one final smirk before he continued walking a bit faster while Jim's cheeks became red and he slowed down from becoming flustered. After a moment, he snapped out of it, smirking again, and catching up to Cali, lacing their fingers together as he escorted him to his next class.

As they arrived, Cali gave him a kiss as thanks, and they gave their farewells as he went in and sat in his usual seat towards the front bench of the large classroom. Cali was still smiling as everyone started filing into the room, half because of Jim and half because this class was his favourite of his classes.

He loved learning language and cultures. His species was naturally very good at understanding foreign languages due to them always working with children and having to understand their imperfect versions of speech. However, there was something about the Vulcan one that just intrigued him completely. It helped that the professor seemed to favour him out of most of the other people in the class since he always paid the most attention and picked up on the culture and language very quickly. He was usually towards the top of the class in all language classes but for Vulcan Studies he was literally the top student.

His thoughts were interrupted when the professor, Commander Spock, entered the classroom and begun the lesson.

~~*~~

A couple of days later, Cali was waiting at the bar for Jim, having got there early. The place was definitely more filled than normal as it appeared there were more people than seats.

Cali was already thinking about suggesting to Jim they go somewhere else when he got there but his thought was interrupted when a girl leant against his table with a flirtatious smile aimed at him. Immediately feeling uncomfortable, Cali tried to smile back out of kindness, but it came out very strained compared to his usual warm one. The woman began flirting with him, but Cali quickly decided to turn her down before it escalated.

"I'm really sorry, but just you're not my type." He explained with a forced smile only to see her start to get offended and quickly added on, "I'm gay." Hoping that she'd understand and back off got him nowhere as she appeared to get even more offended and looked at him in disgust.

"Don't lie to me. I know you. You're a Polyvore. Your whole race are sluts, you'll sleep with everyone." She insulted, looking mad that he would even try to lie. Of course, he wasn't lying and tried to ignore the racial comment to explain again but she interrupted with a shrill cry, "So what's so wrong with me that someone like you wouldn't sleep with me? Huh?"

Cali just gave a smile and was about to stand up and leave, not in the mood to deal with some racist bitch getting offended cause he was gay when a large man came over, looking just as mad as the woman, hoping to defend her honour and get into her pants in his stead most likely. He spat more racial comments at Cali, but he just ignored them and stood up, leaving the bar so that he could message Jim and tell him to meet him somewhere else.

He'd just gotten outside, dipped to the side so he wasn't in anyone's way and pulled his communicator out of his jacket pocket when the man from before came out of the bar and looked around, still looking mad, obviously having followed him to continue the fight. Now alone with no witnesses, Cali panicked and quickly tried to leave but the man spotted him and stomped over, quickly blocking his route of escape.

"There you are slut. Think you can insult my girlfriend and just leave. No fucking way." The large man spat. Cali could tell he was obviously lying about the girl being his girlfriend but was too panicked to really comment on it. He knew there was no way he'd be able to fight the bigger man but now didn't have anywhere to run to.

Trying to diffuse the situation, Cali tried apologising for accidently insulting the woman, even though he hadn't, and explaining that it hadn't been his intention. But this just made the man angrier apparently as he quickly threw a punch, hitting Cali in the cheek. Overcome by pain, Cali quickly spit out the mouthful of blue blood that now filled his mouth and could feel his lip bleeding.

Unfortunately, the man wasn't finished as he threw another two punches, completely knocking Cali off his feet making him land on his back and knock his head against the pavement. He tried to get up but was stopped as a hard boot slammed into his ribs causing him to blackout for a moment in pain.

Now dizzy and in agony, Cali barely heard as someone approached and the attack stopped. He could hear an authoritative voice telling the cadet off and the man stomping off, but he only really registered properly what was happening again when he felt someone place their fingers against his neck to check for a pulse and call his name.

"Cadet Caliaire." The voice prompted making Cali finally able to open his eyes slightly and look up, though the movement of his head made him groan. "Are you alright?" the voice asked causing Cali to finally recognise the monotone words as he looked up to see Commander Spock.

Cali nodded, though the shaking of his head hurt, and replied as evenly as he could, though Spock could still hear the pain in his voice, "I'm fine."

Spock was completely unconvinced, but Cali tried to get up before he could say anything. Though that attempt was rather unsuccessful, so Spock offered his arm to steady and support him as the man stood up on the second attempt.

After a moment of leaning on the commander to steady himself, Cali let go and took a small wobbly step back so that he could stand on his own. Before Spock could make a comment on his wellbeing, a worried voice shouted over that Cali easily recognises as Jim.

"Cali!" he called, having easily spotted the silver-headed man in the darkness outside the bar and quickly noticed his condition. "Please tell me that the other guy looks worse." He continued, quickly standing by his side, and gently grabbing his arms so that Cali could lean on him, to which Cali was silently thankful for since he thought he was going to fall over again, and looked over him.

"I'm fine." Cali answered again but Jim was completely unconvinced as he could hear the pain in his voice, let alone see it clearly on his face. He could see the busted lip, the ruffled clothes with shoe prints on, the blue blood trailing down his chin and on the pavement floor, the dark navy bruises already forming on his face.

"Cali..." Jim lightly scolded, too worried in that moment to be angry at whoever had hurt his beloved angel.

Still standing there rather awkwardly Spock decided to speak up, questioning if Jim knew Cali but Jim continued to ignore his existence in leu of checking over Cali, much to Spock's annoyance. Thankfully, Cali was aware enough to smile over at him, showing his apology for his partner. "Thank you, Commander, for helping." He thanked honestly, his tone warm and genuine making Spock feel more reassured that he was alright, in some sense.

"It is my duty to ensure Cadets do not fight on campus. I will make certain that the assailant faces the correct repercussions for the attack." Spock reassured simply making Cali give him a slightly dopey smile, much more out of it than he was letting on but still trying to make the others believe that he was fine.

Turning back to his concerned partner who was still him holding up, Cali reassured him one more time that he was alright before asking if they could go home. "Of course, come on, let's get you to Bones." He commented gently, supporting Cali as they made their way back to his apartment while Spock went on his way to file the correct reports about the incident he had witnessed.

~~*~~

Luckily, Bones was still in the dorm when they got back and was quick to react, grabbing the medical pack he kept under his bed after all the times Jim had come home after a bar fight in need of fixing up and got to work helping Cali who was sat on Jim's bed.

They both asked what had happened, first Bones asking Jim who shared the little he knew and then both of them asking Cali when he was a bit more aware. He explained about the girl approaching him and then the man coming to defend her honour and beating him up outside.

The story made Jim furious, especially since he wasn't there to look after his boyfriend, but Cali kept smiling at him to calm him down. Both Jim and Bones could tell that he'd skipped a fair bit of the story but didn't push. Bones left to go and get some ice since they'd run out while Jim stayed with Cali and cuddled him. After a moment, Jim asked again how Cali was feeling.

"I'm fine love, all better." He replied smiling that same warm smile he was famous for, but it didn't fool Jim this time. He knew he wasn't fine, and he wasn't going to let it go.

"You always hide yourself; hide how you feel around everyone." Jim commented, noting how Cali's smile faded and he looked away at the words.

"I'm fine." Cali replied, still looking away and not even convincing himself, let along Jim who looked at him warmly.

"Talk to me angel."

After a moment, Cali sighed in defeat, knowing that he'd have to explain. He thought for a pause before giving his explanation, "As I've said before, my entire culture revolves around raising children. Spoiling them rotten from the day they are born to the day of their 16th birthday. On that momentous day, you go from everything being about you to everything being about them. When the children you are devoted to are disturbingly good at sensing when something is wrong, you have to be even better at hiding it. I was only there for two years but you learn very quickly how to act properly around them. How to hide everything so that you don't affect them. How to always be happy. Even when you're not."

"You're not around the children anymore."

"I know. But faking happy is a hard habit to break."

"I know, angel. Just promise me that you'll try and talk to me more. Even if it's hard. I wanna know if you're not alright. I can't help you if I don't and I really wanna help you." Jim explained genuinely, making Cali honestly want to cry. Not sad tears but not particularly happy tears either. More just the tears he'd been holding onto for so many years that he'd bottled up. It made him feel so loved to know that Jim was there, sitting next to him ready to listen.

"I promise."

Jim ended up walking Cali home and staying over at his, snuggling him long into the night just to make sure that he knew that he was there for him.

~~*~~

The following day, Cali had Vulcan Studies with Commander Spock first thing. When he entered, the commander had already been at his desk, but Cali was later than normal and so there was only a couple of minutes before class and so Spock decided against speaking to him. He did, however, watch him enter and give him a visual check over. He noted that Cali looked physically fine. All signs of the previous night completely gone as if it had never happened.

When class ended, Spock called for Cali to stay behind for a moment and waited for the rest of the class to leave before talking. "You are looking better this morning."

Cali smiled, "Yeah, Jim's roommate is a doctor. He fixed me up so I'm fine today. Thank you again for intervening last night."

Nodding in approval at the cadet getting himself looked over, Spock brushed off the thanks, "It is the commanding officer's duty to ensure bullying does not take place on campus, there is nothing to thank me for." Curiously, his answer caused Cali to let out a quiet laugh, but he decided to ignored it, continuing, "Your attacker has been expelled for his racial discrimination as well as the targeted assault."

"Thank you, Commander."

"I simply followed the correct procedures, there is no reason to thank me."

Smiling again, Cali shook his head slightly in amusement. "Please commander, just accept the thanks."

Looking at his curiously for a moment with a pointed eyebrow raised, Spock gave in. "Very well, you are welcome Cadet Caliaire." The simple words make Cali smile brightly again, feeling accomplished. Spock dismissed him, having informed him on everything he needed to. Cali called back a goodbye as he left but Spock didn't reply, already getting back to his work.

~~*~~