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“I’m gonna do it, Bones,” Jim said, walking into sickbay with a smile on his face.
McCoy almost dropped the five tubes of yellow liquid he was carefully carrying from a bedside table to his office. “Dammit, Jim, knock before you enter!”
“Sorry,” Jim answered honestly. He followed the Doctor into the office, where he was arranging the tubes in a rack from most to least full. He stood silently while McCoy finished his task, his lips still forming a smile.
“So what is it? What are you gonna do that’s so important you almost made me drop these blood tests?”
Jim frowned, staring at the bright yellow liquid with a mix of confusion and disgust. “Blood tests?”
“Ensign Pierce. I imagine she wouldn’t be too happy if I called her for a do-over. It was hard enough to get her to come here once…” McCoy complained, then turned around and sat on his desk, crossing his arms over his chest in a challenging pose. “Anyways… What are you up to?”
His smile widened. “I’ll try the new holodeck.”
McCoy raised an eyebrow. “You came here just to tell me that?” He didn’t sound mad, nor annoyed. Just puzzled as to why it was an important subject.
“I wanted to tell someone, I don’t know,” he shrugged. “You’ve been there a few times, haven’t you?”
“Sure I have,” his bright blue eyes moved from Jim’s and stared at a blank space on the wall. “I spend the little free time I have baskin’ in the sun, white sands under me, the deliciously soothing sound of waves crashing on the shore making me doze off...” he trailed off dreamily.
Jim chuckled. He could imagine McCoy in the holodeck with a mint julep on his hand and a relaxed expression on his face -that expression was a sight he hardly got to see. But this vacation holodeck program wasn’t Jim’s thing at all.
It wasn’t a secret that the Captain of the Enterprise despised relaxation-based shore leaves, that he preferred to spend his free time training his body and his mind. That meant reading, listening to old music, sparring with Spock, playing chess with Spock, discussing new scientific findings with Spock-
Too much Spock , he thought, despite knowing there was no such thing.
“I’m looking for something more…”
McCoy snapped out of his daydreaming with a sigh, and he looked at Jim again. “Dangerous?”
“It’s a holodeck, Bones, I can’t get hurt.”
“I think you’d find a way. You have a talent for getting hurt.”
“I’ll pick a training program. To exercise.”
“Oh, Spock’s got one of those. I obviously haven’t tried it, but it’s probably what you’re looking for.”
Jim pressed his lips together. The idea was attractive. He wouldn’t have to create a program, which he didn’t know how to do at all, and more importantly, Spock was a Vulcan, which probably meant that his training program would be challenging to a human like Jim. “Won’t he mind if I use it?”
“Why would he? It’s just a combat simulator.”
McCoy was probably right. So later he’d just go to the holodeck and ask for Spock’s training program. What could go wrong?
----------------------------
“No, this is not it, it’s wrong!” Jim yelled, hoping the holodeck would somehow comply with his unclear orders.
He’d asked for ‘Spock’s training program’ and yet the holodeck had transformed into Spock’s quarters. Was this a malfunction? Jim was about to come out of the room when the door swished open and a man walked in.
Jim walked in. Or an exact holographic copy of him.
Jim -the real Jim- opened his eyes in shock. What the hell was he doing here? Was Spock sparring with Jim even when he wasn’t available?
His gaze followed the hologram’s movement, his muscles tensing in case he would attack him all of a sudden, but the other Jim just walked to Spock’s table, which had a 3D chess set placed on the center, and sat down on one of the chairs.
“I’m playing white, today,” he said.
Jim winced at the sound of his own voice. It didn’t sound right, heard from outside of his body. He moved to the table and sat down slowly, examining the hologram and realizing how well-done it was. It even had his usually messy lock of hair falling on his forehead and the tiny speck of brown on his left eye that, up until then, Jim thought no one had ever noticed.
“What are you staring at?” the hologram said. “Let’s play.”
So this was not a fighting program, Jim realized. It was a training program, sure, just… Chess training. The real Jim started laughing as he watched himself do the exact opening move he would do if he was playing white. Of course Spock was winning all their games lately! He prepared for them!
Ah, that sneaky man…
He could leave the holodeck immediately to find Spock and protest about this creative type of cheating. But first, he wanted to know if HoloKirk -Jim decided that’d be his name- was as good as him. If he could beat the machine, maybe he wouldn’t have to complain to Spock about using his likeness. Maybe the Vulcan just felt more comfortable playing against a familiar face than he would against a stranger and he had no hidden agenda beyond that.
“It’s your turn,” HoloKirk said, reminding Jim of where he was and what he had to do.
Well… Let’s see if I’m any good.
Jim hovered his hand over the black pieces while he pondered. He finally decided to move his knight to the second level.
HoloKirk grinned playfully and he looked up from the set to place a dangerously intense gaze on Jim’s eyes. “Oh, that’s good, Spock.”
Jim’s brows furrowed at that. Perhaps it was just his impression, but that sentence had been… provoking. Flirty. The tone in which it had been spoken, soft yet confident, added to the eager look HoloKirk had thrown him… It was at least suspicious. Not to mention the choice of words.
Do I really sound like this?
He watched HoloKirk as he moved a second piece, his bishop, to the third level, but he couldn’t quite concentrate on the game. HoloKirk’s last words were swimming around his brain.
If he really came off like that, he’d have to change his ways before Spock realized his teasing -he could admit to teasing the Vulcan every once in a while- hid an underlying attraction. He had always made an effort to be subtle so his true feelings wouldn’t show. How would Spock react if he learned Jim liked him, had always done so, and possibly even loved him?
But again, he wasn’t sure that his intentions had ever been as crystal clear as HoloKirk’s.
Jim picked up his queen and he killed the white bishop. He offered the dead piece to HoloKirk by jiggling it through the air, above the set. HoloKirk, without breaking eye contact, reached for it. He could grab the bottom of the bishop as Jim held it from the top, but he didn’t; he grazed his fingers with Jim’s while taking the piece from him. Jim pulled his hand away, embarrassed, realizing by the heat rising across his cheeks that he was probably blushing.
Blushing at his own advances! Because he was sure now: it wasn’t his imagination. HoloKirk was flirting with him, or rather, with Spock.
“You like that, Spock?” HoloKirk said, to make it even more clear, and also more uncomfortable. “Taking my pieces?”
“I do,” Jim answered, to test the hologram.
He had chosen to stay silent through the game up until now. For one, Jim had thought that it was ridiculous to talk with a hologram -maybe the reason he hadn’t tried the holodeck until every other crew member had been in. And apart from that, the hologram was him, so it made it so much worse. But he wanted to see where it went, if HoloKirk really was a realistic impression of a human, of Jim.
“I know you do,” HoloKirk whispered as he moved another piece across the board.
“So…” Jim moved his queen down a level. “Do you think I’ll win?”
A white pawn was placed next to Jim’s queen, in a place it could kill but couldn’t be killed. “Don’t get so competitive, Spock,” HoloKirk said, his tone coming out seductive. “You’re a sore loser and a sore winner.”
Jim advanced one of his pawns. “So are you.”
“That was such a terrible move,” HoloKirk stated, before taking out the queen with the pawn. “Are you letting me win?”
“Maybe I am,” Jim replied while staring at the board intently, trying to figure out a way to beat himself.
“As if I need help.” Jim’s eyes looked up and found his own hazel irises. HoloKirk’s expression was serious, his gaze steely -yet somehow there was heat behind that coolness. “I can have you pleading for mercy with just a few more moves.”
Jim stood up and walked away from the table, from the hologram, his face pink in embarrassment. What is this? What am I doing? He felt like he was invading Spock’s privacy at the same time he was invading his. He wasn’t supposed to be there.
“Please, end program,” Jim yelled, and he felt himself relaxing as the red curtains of Spock’s quarters turned to the black walls of the holodeck, as his clone and his thinly veiled sexual advances vanished.
I’m never doing this again , he thought as he walked out the door.
----------------------------
So, what now? Spock clearly liked him. He had learnt as much during the chess game in the holodeck. But he wasn't sure what to do about that information.
Jim was sitting on the Captain’s chair, his stare fixed on the science station. Or rather, on the science officer -his bent back, his agile fingers, his neatly groomed hair- as he worked. Look at him, acting all innocent.
As if he had heard Jim’s thoughts, Spock straightened and turned around, meeting Jim’s eyes. Jim didn’t know if it would be worse to break eye contact, making Spock suspect that he was staring for strange reasons, or if he held it until the Vulcan gave up and looked away, which could be never.
He got up and walked to the rail separating the science station from the rest of the bridge, feeling scrutinized under Spock’s gaze and everyone else’s -he was the Captain, after all. “Mr. Spock,” he said innocently, when he reached the rail.
“Captain,” Spock answered, his expression unreadable. “Is something the matter?”
“I was just wondering… Ah. Would you like to come over tonight for a game of chess?”
Spock lowered his gaze, seemingly contemplating his options. “I am amenable to that idea,” he finally said.
Amenable? Was he playing hard to get?
“Is 2100 hours alright?”
“It is, Captain. I will be there,” Spock said, nodding once before turning around and bending over again to watch the space around the ship through the visor.
Jim smiled proudly and walked back to his chair. His heart was already beating fast in anticipation. God, this shift couldn’t end soon enough.
----------------------------
“Come in!” Jim said, not even a second after the buzzer disturbed the silence of his quarters.
The door opened with a loud swish and Spock stepped in, hands held together behind his back as usual. He nodded as a greeting and joined Jim at the table.
“Very punctual, Mr. Spock,” Jim noted, pointing at the clock placed on a shelf.
Spock raised a playful eyebrow. “When have I not been?”
Jim smiled broadly and shook his head. “Right!” Then, as he saw Spock’s hand reach for the edge of the chess board between them to turn it around, he stilled the set with both his hands. “I’m playing white, today.”
“Very well,” Spock said, withdrawing his hand from the table and sitting back on the chair, his gaze switching from the board to Jim’s face constantly.
An involuntary grin came across Jim’s lips as he took a pawn and moved it two squares forward. Something he would never do. Something HoloKirk would never do. Something Spock wouldn’t expect.
As predicted, Jim looked up to see Spock’s brows half-hiding behind his bangs, clearly showing puzzlement. The Vulcan was definitely using the holodeck to cheat by memorizing Jim’s moves and anticipating them. He was smart enough to win without the help, though; maybe unpredictability wouldn’t help Jim win the game.
“A most illogical opening,” Spock offered as he moved his knight with elegance.
Jim watched the board and waited until he could feel Spock’s gaze on him again to look up and meet his dark irises. “Oh, that’s good, Spock.”
The dark eyes opened wide and Spock choked on air. Jim had to put up an enormous effort not to laugh at his friend, to keep appearances as if what he had said was completely normal and not in any way flirty. As soon as he saw Spock’s cheeks turn a muted shade of green, Jim moved his pawn forward, somewhere Spock could easily kill it. And he waited.
Spock, still looking edgy, killed the pawn with one of his. Jim smiled. Bingo . “You like that, Spock?” Jim said, lowering his voice to make it sound more playful. “Taking my pieces?”
The white pawn fell from Spock’s hand as Spock stood up, shocked. He was looking down to the floor with his head slightly bowed as if in apology. His flushed cheeks could still be seen, though. “Forgive me, Captain.”
“Forgive you for what?” Jim asked, feigning confusion. He stood up and approached Spock with slow but sure steps. “Is something wrong?”
“There is no need to pretend,” he said, turning around. “I understand you have discovered… my holodeck chess program. I will delete it first thing tomorrow.”
“Why would you delete it?” Jim, despite his fast-beating heart, confidently placed his hand on Spock’s shoulder. The Vulcan shuddered under his touch. “It’s just chess.”
Spock turned around and locked his eyes on Jim’s, finally. There was fear in them, shame. But there was a fierce heat hiding underneath that. A heat that turned his eyes darker, almost pitch black. Jim’s heart skipped a beat.
Without giving himself time to turn back, to take the route of cowardice, Jim bracketed Spock’s face with his hands as he stepped forward, crashing his lips against Spock’s, which were parted and ready to welcome his tongue.
Fuck, Jim thought, as he felt Spock grip his hair tight, pulling him harder into the kiss, forcing their bodies to align from head to toes, to feel the heat emanating from each other’s skin, the sweet yet wild passion that was overtaking the two men buzzing like electricity between them.
Spock pulled away, gasping for air, and he approached Jim’s ear with his lips. “It is convenient that you did not discover my other training program,” he whispered, his voice deeper than ever. The hot breath against his ear clouded Jim’s senses for a moment and he felt dizzy with pleasure. He turned his head, looking for Spock’s mouth with his, and he kissed it again, hungrily sucking on Spock’s rough tongue.
Then Jim, registering Spock’s words, pulled back, breathing hard. “Other training program?”
“Yes,” Spock said, splaying his hands on Jim’s chest. “A sparring program.”
So the holodeck wasn’t malfunctioning. Spock did have an exercise program.
“Am I in it?” Jim asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes,” Spock whispered, and his cheeks blushed brighter.
“Do we spar at all or do you just throw me to the floor and hold my body there under yours?”
The idea of it turned Jim on. When they sparred, the Vulcan controlled his strength, but the times during missions when Spock -be it because of spores, be it because of an alien virus or the Vulcan pon farr- was out of his mind and easily overpowered Jim had been… Eye opening.
Spock grazed his thumbs over Jim’s nipples, over the uniform shirt, his dark gaze challenging. “Quite the opposite.”
Jim felt all his blood rushing down to his groin and, before he could think clearly, he moved his left leg behind Spock’s, he grabbed his arm and tugged, throwing the taller -and way stronger than him- man to the floor with a swift movement. Spock was surprised, of course, but he sat up and looked up at Jim in a way that was almost… pleading. Jim got on top of him, straddling Spock, and he pushed his chest back down to the floor with a strong hand, shutting down Spock’s efforts to kiss him.
“Like this?” Jim asked, pressing his hardening cock against Spock’s stomach. “You like that, Spock?”
Spock gasped. “I… I do.”
“I know you do.” And he really did, because he began to feel the press of Spock’s own hard-on under his ass. He rocked his hips and looked at Spock’s delighted expression of pleasure with a devilish grin. He rocked them again, feeling Spock’s erection get harder.
“Jim,” Spock groaned, his lips parted in a way Jim couldn’t resist. The Captain lowered his body, still bracketing Spock’s legs with his, and pushed his lips against Spock’s, moaning into his mouth from the almost hurtful friction of his cock pressed flush between his weight and Spock’s stomach. He began rocking again, involuntarily, until Spock pushed him away with a bewildered expression. “Jim, are you sure you want… this?”
“Of course I do, Spock,” he said, a crease forming between his eyebrows. “I’m not a hologram. I have free will and I want this.” He traced Spock’s lips with a finger. “God, I’ve wanted this forever. Can’t you feel it?”
He was partly referring to the throbbing erection in his pants, which was begging to be freed from its containment. Spock, as if he’d read Jim’s mind, reached for the pants’ waistband and unbuttoned the slacks. He pulled them down painfully slowly, and he didn’t pull the briefs down with them. Jim laughed hysterically, unable to find another expression for the dizzying pleasure he was feeling at the moment. “Come on, Spock! I feel like I’m going insane.”
Luckily for Jim, Spock decided to be a sport and to pull down the briefs along with the pants. Jim sat up so Spock could take them off more easily. Meanwhile, he took his own boots off, and then his shirt, which he threw somewhere around the room. He realized then that he was completely naked on top of a fully clothed Spock and he laughed again.
He kissed the Vulcan fiercely and felt his long fingers touching the naked skin deftly, exploring every inch of him -except those that mattered most to Jim at the moment. He was carefully avoiding Jim’s erection. When Jim broke the kiss, he helped Spock get out of his clothes, pulling off his shirt and staring in awe at his lean, hairy figure, and then, after climbing off Spock, tugging his pants and briefs.
When Spock was fully naked, still lying on the floor in the same position he had fallen in from Jim’s maneuver, Jim took a time to stare at his body -as he felt Spock’s gaze explore his. He was beautiful. Entirely. Completely. He had always been, to Jim. But something about the vulnerability of his pose and expression made Jim like him even more. The Captain got on his knees and crawled to Spock, running his hands up his inner thighs as he got closer, reveling with the little sounds that escaped the Vulcan’s mouth.
Jim’s face reached Spock’s erection and hovered above it. He took his time to inspect it, not before pressing his hands on Spock’s hips so he couldn’t move them. It had two ridges and its tip was green, hard with coppery Vulcan blood. The length of it was covered in tiny pores that produced a lube-like liquid, so the cock was already fully slick. Jim shivered at the thought of the liquid’s usefulness, at the marvels of Vulcan biology.
“Jim, please,” Spock said, his chest heaving with force from anticipation.
And Jim couldn’t resist him, not when he was pleading, not when he, too, wanted this so bad. God, he wanted Spock so bad. He put his mouth around the head of the cock and sucked, running his tongue over the ridges, licking the half-sweet half-bitter lube off of it. Spock moaned and Jim couldn’t help but smirk around him before lowering his head and taking the cock in deeper. Spock’s hands darted to Jim’s hair and held it tightly. The sweet pain of it prompted Jim to suck more eagerly, his head bobbing up and down, his tongue probing Spock’s shaft and his eyes and ears registering which movements made Spock’s face distort in pleasure and his body squirm under him, which ones prompted the blissful moans and low growls coming out of his lips.
His own erection was painfully throbbing in the air, untouched, the slit spilling precum from Spock’s pleasure having built Jim’s own, but Jim made it a point to leave it alone, at least for now. He wanted Spock to touch him. He wanted him to make him come. But first, he wanted Spock to spill inside his mouth. Breathing with difficulty and teary-eyed, Jim withdrew his hand from Spock’s hips, leaving him freedom to move -oh, and how Spock used that freedom.
The Vulcan rolled his hips forward slowly and weakly, at first, checking with half-lidded eyes if Jim could take him in comfortably. Jim, needing Spock to let go, winked at him. And no other signal was needed, for Spock began to fuck into his mouth harder, yet still careful as not to hurt Jim, who eagerly kept sucking his length, licking the underside as well as he could with Spock’s fast movements.
Spock fingers tightened around his hair, then, and Jim knew Spock was close. He moaned around his cock, accidentally scraping the two ridges a little with his teeth. Spock groaned and his hips rocked forward with one last, erratic movement before falling to the ground.
“Jim,” Spock strained, looking at him.
And he threw his head back as he came. Jim kept sucking down on Spock, his mouth filling with warm come that kept coming out and which Jim kept swallowing, not without an effort. After a while, he gave Spock’s cock one last lick to wipe it clean and pulled his mouth off it with a popping sound. As he rose on his knees, he couldn’t help but smirk at how undone the Vulcan looked; eyes closed, chest heaving with shallow, quick breaths, drops of sweat rolling down his neck. But… did he still have an erection? What? Was that not cum?
“Spock,” Jim said worriedly. “Your…”
Spock opened his eyes and looked at Jim, thoroughly confused. “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know, you tell me,” Jim responded, looking at the hard-on before him that didn’t show signs of going soft any time soon.
The corners of Spock’s lips tugged upwards lightly in a minute smile. Jim understood then he shouldn’t worry. Vulcan biology.
“Vulcan biology,” Spock said at the same time Jim thought it.
Jim chose to give him time to recover anyways. Leaving Spock’s relentless erection untouched, he dragged his tongue up his hairy happy trail and started peppering wet, hot kisses and a fair amount of bites all over the chest. Spock’s hands roamed all over Jim’s chest and back, scratching his skin slightly, a pleasurable pain that increased Jim’s hardness, if that was even possible. He already felt about to burst, like he could come at any time, untouched.
Gripping Jim’s jawline, Spock pulled him toward his face, and Jim slid up, hissing at the friction of his cock against Spock’s. Their lips found each other and they met with a terrible hunger, in a messy kiss that was more about teeth crashing and breathing into each other’s mouth while they rocked their hips together than anything else. Jim, holding his own body up on one arm, was about to use his other hand to touch himself, unable to resist it any longer, but he felt lean fingers grabbing hold of his cock and he let out a sharp breath of relief.
The fingers tightened around it and began stroking. Spock set up a slow rhythm at first, but Jim needed more, especially considering the fingers slipped lightly over his slick -from rubbing against Spock’s wet shaft- cock, so, already panting heavily and moaning shamelessly, he started thrusting into Spock’s hand.
“Fuck, Spock,” he managed to say when Spock set up a faster rhythm.
Jim made an effort to keep his eyes open so he could see the look of pleasure on Spock’s face, his dark irises staring right into his soul. The Vulcan was getting pleasure only from the faint friction of his own hand against his cock as he worked Jim’s. Unfair , Jim thought as he tried to grab hold of Spock’s cock with his free hand, but failed miserably.
“Spock,” he whispered to his ear, brushing his lips against the pointy tip seductively. “Work us both.”
“Yes,” he answered, voice strained with pleasure.
Without further ado, Spock arranged his own cock next to Jim’s, holding them together with his long fingers, and continued stroking. Fuck. Fuck. Shit. Jim could hardly think a single coherent thought, his blood having run out of his brain to feed the rest of his body, yet he remembered what had prompted him to invite Spock over -that strange yet enticing holodeck experience- and he decided to make one last callback to that.
“I know I asked for, ah, your help,” he said, referring to his inability to jerk Spock off in this position, “but I hardly need it.” Playfully, he raised his free hand and sucked on his own index and middle fingers, making a point that Spock saw it. Spock’s eyes opened wide and Jim, proud that his teasing was succeeding, pulled the fingers out and grinned. “I can have you pleading for mercy with just a few more moves.”
Spock gasped and he began stroking their cocks faster. Jim’s fingers, glossy with saliva, fumbled behind him, asking Spock to separate his legs with a light tap. With enormous effort, pleasure already blurring his vision, Jim parted Spock’s cheeks and pressed his index on the entrance, making the man under him squirm.
“Please,” Spock said softly. Jim studied Spock’s expression as well as he could. He looked so undone. “Please,” he repeated -he begged.
Jim pushed his finger in with one swift movement and Spock arched his back with a groan so loud it could probably be heard from the hallway. The hand stroking the cocks faltered for a second, but it continued its movement as soon as Jim started moving his finger inside Spock. They set up a rhythm together, slower -and thank god, because Jim was almost coming apart- and they kept at it, looking into each other’s eyes. Jim added his other finger to Spock’s hole and, when he felt the muscles stretch around his digits with enough ease, he began fucking into him faster.
“Jim, I am-” Spock groaned, as his hand tightened around their slick cocks, forcing Jim to feel the two ridges on Spock’s shaft rubbing against his lonely ridge, a delicious friction that put Jim over the edge.
“Me too,” Jim said, as he thrusted into Spock’s hand at the same time he pushed his fingers inside his ass, so close to climax he could taste it.
And he thrusted one last time before his vision turned white and, letting out a desperate moan, he came, his seed splattering his own chest and Spock’s. Jim was still riding the wave of pleasure coursing through his body when Spock came too, shaking under Jim, his muscles pulsing around Jim’s fingers and, his hand, covered in both their cum, erratically stroking a few more times before falling to the floor.
With his arm unable to hold him up any longer, Jim let his body crash onto Spock’s, laying his flushed face just under the Vulcan’s neck. He withdrew his fingers from Spock’s hole and he felt his exhausted limbs give up entirely as a pleasurable afterglow filled his body. Their softening cocks -even Vulcan biology couldn’t help, this time- still sensitive, lay flush together, still, pressed between the two men.
After a while, when his breathing evened out, Jim rolled off of Spock and winced when his too hot skin touched the cold floor. “Jesus, Spock, how’d you manage? It’s freezing.”
“I was not thinking about the floor. There was a more pressing matter at hand,” he said, turning his still flushed face toward Jim.
Jim chuckled and turned to his side, laying an arm across Spock’s chest and cuddling him in search for warmth. “Do you wanna move to the bed?”
“I… I believe I cannot move yet,” Spock said, very matter-of-factly, despite the embarrassment that was clearly taking hold of him -if his flushed ears were anything to go by.
A loud, sincere laugh broke out from Jim’s lips. “Well, tell me as soon as you can. I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold because of me.”
“Jim,” Spock replied, his expression very serious. “I would not mind.”
Jim smiled and laid a kiss on Spock’s shoulder. If he likes me enough to endure having sex on a cold, hard surface… “Next time, when you ask me to throw you around, you better stand next to a bed, mister.”
“I did not ask you to,” he said, right eyebrow shooting up.
“Don’t play coy, Spock. Should I spy you next time you use your holodeck sparring program to prove I’m right?”
“There is no need to, Captain. I believe I will not be using that program anymore.”
Jim chuckled amusedly. “Oh, I see. What about the chess program?”
With effort, Spock sat up. Jim moved his arm to Spock’s thigh, and caressed it softly. It was sticky with that natural lube of his.
“That depends,” the Vulcan stated.
“On what?” Jim asked, with actual curiosity. He sat up too, unable to take the hardness of the floor any longer.
Spock tilted towards him. “On if we add a certain… playfulness into our games,” he started, and he kissed Jim’s lips softly, chastely. “And on if that certain playfulness permits us to actually play, unlike-”
“Unlike today,” Jim interrupted him, smiling wide, and he kissed Spock once again, humming against his lips blissfully.
----------------------------
The next day’s shift at the bridge felt shorter than usual, to Jim. He kept staring at Spock without fear or shame of getting caught. What if Spock realized he was staring? He’d just blush and pretend not to have noticed. And if other people noticed, Jim could just make up an excuse.
By the end of alpha shift, the turbolift doors opened with a swish and McCoy stepped into the bridge. He walked to the Captain’s chair and stood next to it as he often did when he got bored in sickbay.
“So, Jim,” McCoy said. “What do ya think about the holodeck?”
The corners of Jim’s lips turned up into a grin as he met the Doctor’s blue eyes. “It was alright, Bones,” he said.
Then, his eyes fixed on the science station again, on Spock. His face was slightly turned towards Jim and McCoy, clearly eavesdropping.
“But I very much prefer the real thing,” Jim added, playfully.
Spock blushed and, for a fleeting moment, he looked up from the console and his eyes met Jim’s. Jim’s smile grew broader, deepening the wrinkles around his eyes. Nothing can compare to the real thing.