Jim wouldn't take that particularly to heart, honestly. Not like Bones needed to want Jim getting hurt, as he did get into trouble often enough on his own for Bones to have plenty of opportunity to take care of him. Not as many fights the longer he was at the Academy, but a whole lot of dangerous situations he'd (sometimes literally) jump into headfirst without thinking since then.

"I liked your warm body in the bed," he smiled warmly, though he wouldn't lie. Back then, just about anyone would do. Jim never really did care much what people said or thought, he liked sex and he liked how much fun it was— but he also knew that the friendship he had with Bones was much more important than that. He'd have given all that up in a heartbeat if only Bones had asked him. Then again, he could understand why the doctor wouldn't. For the same reason Jim had never made a move on Bones to begin with.

Pressing his lips softly against Bones's, he sighed warmly as he cupped his neck, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt, letting out a sigh against the doctor's mouth. It was light and slow but there was something immensely sweet and intimate in such a simple touch, and Jim felt his insides twisting and fluttering happily once the kiss broke.

Even if the words that followed were a bit sobering. Still, Jim didn't let anything show on his face. His rash and thoughtless plan to accept a promotion, how that'd have meant him leaving the Enterprise and getting stationed elsewhere. Looking back now, Jim was all too aware how he hadn't planned any of it through. Right now he was just immensely glad he'd decided not to go through with it.

So he said the only thing he could. The only thing that happened to be very much the truth at this point. "Never. Promise you."