FIC: Houses & Heartwarmings
Title: Houses & Heartwarmings
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy, Sulu/Chekov
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me.
Word Count: 4,285
Summary: Jim receives a new status request from Sulu and Chekov.
Notes: This is now officially the 'Homecoming' series. It all began when Jim was in a shuttle crash and he met a strange girl. This isn't the last of the series. There are currently two more in the queue to be written.
Hard-Earned Rights // Just About Time // The Graceful Waltz // One // The Grave Memorial Of A Life Unlived // Houses & Heartwarmings // Guess Who's Coming To Dinner // Enterprise On My Mind // Your Fate's Not In The Stars // A World of Solemn Thought // Time Can Never Kill The True Heart
The missive requesting permission comes upon Jim’s desk at an ungodly hour of the morning. It’s been slipped in the midst of many clerical items as if it’s trying to shroud itself in the invisibility of tedium. Jim’s awake because he hasn’t been able to sleep since Bones took off for his own quarters and set up shop again and this is why he’s reading the status change and request at three-fifty-four in the morning.
This is the start of a very long day and Jim’s not liking how it bodes if he’s beginning it with other people’s happiness hovering around like a thick fog. He lets the request sit for hours and tries to ignore it, but it doesn’t go away. It’s still there when he checks in for his shift and begins to go through the motions.
It’s all ‘set a course this’ and ‘relay this message’ and ‘no, thank you, Mister Spock, I don’t need you to tell me about your other self again’. Jim avoids looking at most everyone and it seems that by lunch, the bridge crew has had enough of it because he’s being dragged into the ready room by Uhura.
“What?” Jim nearly yelps as she gets hold of him.
“Why are you back to acting like a twelve-year-old?” she demands, arms-crossed and a firm look on her face. Jim sighs and turns his gaze away, but he has the feeling that he’s not going to be able to escape this inquisition so easily. “Captain.” Jim’s always liked the way she does that. She makes it two words that are angry and frustrated and fond at once and one day she’s going to Captain her own ship and Jim’s going to be so proud to see that day arrive. “Jim,” she tries again and he likes the way she says that too, now. It’s sighed and there’s just a hint of regret and pity there.
“It’s not fair,” Jim finally lets loose. It sounds immature to his own ears, but the childish ringing of the words through his head doesn’t do anything to reduce the fact that from his viewpoint with binoculars bearing down on the situation, it really isn’t fair.
“Sorry, sir?” The ‘sir’ comes as an afterthought, a nearly forgotten token of respect.
He’s let loose on the first comment and the rest are tumbling after, as if Jack and Jill are waving away at the words they’ve shoved mercilessly down that hill. “It’s not fair. It took me six months to get a first date with Bones and he’s thirty-seven and Chekov is twenty-three and they’re moving in and I haven’t even put out for sex yet and some older version of your boyfriend has already hit that.” He pauses for breath and debates adding more to this litany of injustice, but Uhura is staring at him as if he’s smeared Vulcan-blood and egg-powder together and called it eyeshadow.
“Do you even hear the words you’re saying?”
“ It’s just not fair.” He could probably start claiming credits for every time he says that phrase because he doesn’t want to stop saying it, either. Another six times or so will do the trick. “You’re married, they’re living together, Scotty’s got his romance with Chapel. And I’m…”
Jim loves this best about Uhura: she implicitly understands what to say, no matter which language she’s speaking in. “You’re trying to insinuate yourself in a romantic fashion with a divorcé who has a teenaged daughter. You’re not just becoming his live-in sex expert, you’re going to become a step-father if this happens. You get a thirty-seven-year-old commitment driven man who will want it to last forever and…”
“I get it,” Jim promises quietly. It doesn’t take very long for Uhura to arrange her features in doubt and while Jim knows that’s the natural reaction, it still annoys him slightly. “And I still want him. And I love Joanna. Jocelyn’s already talking like I’m the step-dad. Well, step-dad number two.” He stops his vehement protest as he grins proudly. “She said I’m not allowed to give the birds and bees talk, but I can do the career one.”
That seems to make some kind of difference to Uhura, but Jim’s not sure how much of a change he’s made.
“Well, that may be what you want, but right now Sulu and Chekov are moving in and you and Leonard are trying to fix up a rough patch, so play nice,” she orders. “Or I’m going to make your life a living hell.”
Jim sighs heavily and knows that she’s right. Not just about the ‘living hell’ part, and not just about the ‘rough patch’, but about the general underlying message of their entire conversation. That is this:
You are too old and too responsible now to be acting like this again.
Jim just nods and feels the weary weight of his duties lying on his back once more. Normally he can bear it with the knowledge that he’ll get off work and be surrounded by friends who don’t expect him to carry on being Captain Kirk all day, but with him and Bones being so out of tune, he doesn’t know what to feel anymore.
“I’ll drop by and see to it that I congratulate them on their new arrangement,” Jim assures, assuming the role of Leader once more and his whole posture changes along with his voice. “Is that suitable?”
“A very wise choice, Captain,” Uhura agrees with a calm nod. “Now, Lieutenant Chekov has some figures he’d like you to look over.”
“Lead the way, Lieutenant.”
*
Bones hasn’t turned up in Jim’s bed for four days now and what used to be an expected occurrence has become a sought-after treat. It’s caused several nights of tossing, turning, and a general air of unease with Jim. Tonight he lies in bed and keeps one eye on the door, but it’s still dark and he doesn’t think that Bones is coming.
Jim’s starting to get the uneasy feeling that maybe his reaction to the whole mess with Spock is going to be a very strong, well-positioned nail in the coffin. He’s stamped his approval for Sulu and Chekov to move in together officially and to continue skipping along their happy little path. He’s sent off missives to his mother to check in, replied to Jocelyn to tell her not yet and at this point, looks like never in a moody fit and he doesn’t know how to reply to Joanna’s mail that asks if he and Bones will be attending her grade eight graduation ceremony and if she should tell the school that her parents are coming (he’d assumed that had been a comment about her mother until he found out that Jocelyn and Clay were vacationing the week of).
He’s staring at the open mail on his PADD as he lies in bed and lets the ghostly light cast shadows on his face.
He’s about to respond and is engrained in the depths of his thoughts when he feels the bed dip beside him. He shuffles the documents to the side and stretches enough so that his shirt rides up and he stares at Bones, who has finally come to see him.
Jim hadn’t even heard the door, but he thinks he likes it better as a surprise.
His smile is lazy and shines like a summer’s day and he goes easily when Bones pushes his palm up Jim’s chest and seems to exude strength that most people wouldn’t assume Bones possessed if they hadn’t seen him in his natural habitat of the Sick Bay.
“Hi,” Jim greets him, voice content and sticky-sweet, like the cream the cat’s about to get.
Bones doesn’t reply to him so much as he swings both legs around Jim’s hips until he’s straddling him firmly and then any hint of slowness dissipates as Bones grabs hold of Jim’s wrists and shoves them above his head. Suddenly there are handcuffs and binds and Jim’s securely fastened to each corner of the bed and Bones has stripped every last vestige of clothing off of him.
“…Leonard Horatio McCoy,” Jim drawls with a pleased grin as he watches the blindfold being wrapped around Bones’ wrist for inevitable use. “I knew the Horatio meant you were kinky.”
He doesn’t get a response out of Bones, but he does get a slanted look of consideration that bodes well for them. Bones seems to be focused on dragging his fingers over Jim’s body and evoking pleasure from the too-light touches before applying swift and hard pressure against his balls with his knee, grabbing hold of his cock and stroking hard.
It’s almost easy to forget that they’ve been dancing tangos on eggshells when it feels like electricity is sparking off between the both of them.
Jim looks up and the room feels so dark that it’s almost black. Except there in the center of it is Bones and he’s shining like a sun about to go supernova. He’s Jim’s world in that moment and his stomach tumbles in a spiral ever-downwards as he feels like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. The blindfold is knotted on and Jim’s whole world goes dark, now.
“Bones, I’m so sorry,” he gets out quietly, but he’s shut up with a gag to his mouth and then every apology is muffled, but no less meant.
So now he’s splayed in every which direction on the bed, he can’t see, he can’t speak, but Bones is touching him and making his back arch off the bed with every touch and every kiss.
Fuck, he thinks.
“Yes, Bones,” he muffles, knowing that his words are obscured by the gag, but it doesn’t matter when Bones is using the width of his legs as an invitation to slowly push inside and to… “Fuck!” Jim lets out a broken cry of joy. “Yes!”
“Jim,” Bones is whispering in his ear, pressing a long kiss that burns to Jim’s neck. “You have to remember. It’s not always about the sex.”
And suddenly Jim can see again and the blindfold is gone. Bones isn’t touching him and is merely sitting down and staring at him contemplatively as he forms his fingers in the traditional way of a Vulcan about to perform a mindmeld before he presses them firmly to Jim’s forehead.
He lets out a sudden cry, but nothing happens.
And then suddenly Bones is gone and Jim is still tied and…
“Bones?”
He’s awake. Jim’s not bound, not gagged, not tied and he’s awake. He’s also alone and that means that everything he’d felt and thought he’d seen had been nothing more than a dream. It takes nearly five minutes to place himself in his room and to come to terms with the fact that it had all been in his head. His mouth is dry and his boxers are wet and he sighs with a disgruntled sound and tries to remember just when he fell asleep. The PADD sits discarded amidst the covers and the message from Joanna is still awaiting response.
“God damn it,” he sighs as he leans over for a towel to try and clean himself off slightly.
Someone is busy opening the door to his room in the meantime and Jim barely spares a glance up. He doesn’t lock the door because he knows that when he’s asleep, any of the bridge crew might need him. In fact, the only time he had ever locked his door had been in deference and respect to Bones wanting to keep the fact that they slept in the same bed a private matter. He just collapses back against the bed and drapes a hand over his eyes.
The bed dips and Jim wants to know when his dreams started running cyclically. He has half a mind to contact Engineering and ask if they’ve passed through any strange ion fields in the last little while that might account for this. He lifts his arm long enough to see the glint of starlight off Bones’ dark hair and smiles ruefully.
“The same dream twice in one night,” he observes as he wriggles slightly and tries to get ready for it to happen again. “Nice.”
He gets a fierce pinch for his efforts.
Apparently this one’s real. “Ow! Fuck, Bones,” he whines softly. “Fine, no jokes,” he sighs and puts the mature-face on again because this is a side of him that’s checked out since the revelation arrived about his Bones and the other-Spock. “Are you staying the night?”
“Yeah,” Bones exhales and toes his shoes off before crawling under the covers and contorting their positions until Bones is curled around Jim from behind and they occupy hardly any of the bed. The warmth is almost overwhelming and this isn’t any kind of inferno that Jim’s planned for. It’s just them. “Thought we could do with a talk. And I missed sleeping with someone in my bed.”
“Bones, listen I…”
“Jim, shut up. This is one of those talks where you just get to listen while I talk to you. What happens in other universes doesn’t matter. I can have Scotty pull up the stats he’s got on the probabilities of other universes where you’re a woman, I’m a woman, or you’re a unicorn,” he sarcastically notes. “It doesn’t affect us. There is no spillover and I am not with Spock. You know that and I know that and Uhura makes damn well sure the whole world knows that. I’m with you, Jim. And not only am I with you, but I’m trying to let you into my life, god damn it. Do you know how rough that is on a man who lost every bit of it once upon a time because he was stupid?”
There’s a lull in the conversation, but Jim doesn’t say anything because he can sense that Bones isn’t exactly through. They’re not even looking each other in the eye, but maybe that’s the only way this can happen. Maybe eye contact would ruin the intimacy of the moment and would send Bones into a fearful fit of nerves.
Though, he does want to later comment on the universes where they’re both women. He’d like to know if Scotty can possibly procure some security footage for very important delegate reasons.
“I lost Jocelyn because we were young and bitter and it’s taken me this long to get her and Jo back. I’m thirty-seven, Jim. I want my next relationship to be it and I’m not ready to bend and make adjustments because of you. I want you in my life, I sure as hell do, but if you’re serious about wanting me, then you better be ready to accept me, warts and all, James Kirk,” Bones warns, voice heavy. “I told you that you’re the one. That means that’s it, Jim. You’re her stepfather, you put in time at family occasions and you meet Jocelyn’s mother because the woman’s got a fondness for me that I can’t quite explain and wants to meet this new man of mine. You come to Christmas, you always check in with Medbay first and I hate to say it, but the time for sleeping around is done if you really want to do this. And hell, Jim, if you don’t want that, I get it if you want to leave, but…”
This is the point in time in which Jim decides that not saying anything isn’t going to do him a lick of good. So he exhales a heady ‘shit, Bones, shut up’ and nearly pounces to get atop Bones and press a lengthy and long kiss to Bones’ lips. Jim softly parts his lips and sucks Bones’ lower lip between them before exhaling a soft breath and pressing a softer kiss to the top lip, as if afraid it might grow jealous of its counterpart.
Each kiss is punctuated with a slow rock forward that gently coaxes more friction between the two of them. It’s not long at all before rocking kisses grow into desperate and clumsy meetings of mouths as they try and sate themselves on the edge of this serious discussion.
“I’m not…fuck,” Jim exhales with a low howl, “twenty-five…anymore, Bones.” His hand digs into the sheets and he clenches his teeth together when Bones shifts his body and they’re pushing against each other at a whole new angle. “I get joys in simple things. The Enterprise. The missions. You.” He let out another pained sound of joy and grinned as he threw his head back to the ceiling, straddling Bones. “Besides,” he gets out sharply. “Don’t think I could l-look Jo in the eye knowing I was cheating on her Dad.”
“Do not talk about…” Bones warns, but the remainder of his sentence is lost as both of his strong hands come down like clamps on Jim’s biceps and haul him down for a smash of a kiss.
“Yeah’kay.”
Jim makes a concerted effort to go for the buckles of his trousers and tries to get them off, but it’s no use. They’re in too much of a hurry and they haven’t even been in casual contact with each other, much less this furious onslaught of intimacy. Before Jim can wiggle out of his tight boxers, he’s already coming and letting out another curse about ruined pants. The words of blame die in his throat when Bones rocks up against him and drags up against his thigh and all Jim can feel is a burst of warmth.
Somehow it makes him feel just about okay that he’s not the only one coming in his pants like a teenager - though, twice in one night is a little too much for his pride.
Bones collapses half-atop him, askew and the furrow on his brow has yet to go away. Jim’s beginning to wonder if it’s ever going to disappear fully or if he’s earned that for life.
And speaking of life…
“Go ahead and put the papers through,” Jim murmurs quietly. “For me and Joanna. They gave me the Enterprise a second time, Bones. Give me a first chance.” The rest he can do in his sleep. It’s easy to love Bones if you can dodge all the incoming verbal assaults and battered walls lying around his heart. You just have to know the right way in and Jim’s never believed in a no-win scenario.
*
After everything, Jim still goes to Sulu and Chekov’s new quarters with a little fruit basket that he’d picked up on one of his last shore leaves (Bones had idly peered over his shoulder and expressed disgust as to the fact that no one in the universe ought to want genetically-modified bananas that were barely the size of your pinky). Still, Jim thinks it’s cute and it fits what he wants to give them - something small, but thoughtful.
He’s in a much better mood than he had been when he got the request and he grins as Chekov opens the door and coaxes him in without so much as a hello, prattling on about the new quarters and asking if he had seen the view they had of one of the solar systems to the aft of the ship and ‘this is where Hikaru’s sword collection will hang, tell him, Hikaru, about your swords’.
Jim just sits and listens to all the plans they have for this new place and watches the easy way Sulu can drape his arm around Chekov’s shoulders as they converse easily about the life they’re building together and the shared future they plan to conquer. Jim’s pretty easy to please when it comes to seeing his crew safe and happy, but this kind of makes him feel even better.
It’s almost like he wants to take credit for this happening, but he can’t, exactly.
“So?” Sulu’s curiosity is interrupting Jim’s drifting thoughts, trying to slowly meander their way away from the room and possibly out of orbit.
Jim raises a brow. “So, what? If you guys want raises too, I pretty much spent the budget getting you guys this place.”
“And it is beautiful, we thank you,” Chekov insisted, chin high and a proud look upon his face. “However, I believe what Hikaru means to ask in a subtle way is whether or not you have any romantic escapades of which you would like to share.” Jim shifts uneasily as he uncrosses his legs and recrosses them.
Uhura is singularly the only crew member who knows the depth of what’s going on between him and Bones. The truth is that everyone knows they’re tightly-knit best friends and that the closeness between them seems to exceed the closeness of friends in general, but they aren’t aware of what happened in Georgia or Iowa or any other homes where the comfort of familiar territory had led to new situations. Now, with Sulu and Chekov looking at him expectantly, he’s not sure what to say. His conversation with Bones last night has all but clarified that they are, with certainty, a them. This means guardianship papers involving Joanna and it means a new status and while it doesn’t mean shared quarters just yet (the key word is ‘slow’ because Jim is not going to fuck this one up), it means that the entire crew will know soon enough.
Just not yet.
He has the feeling that if he jumps the gun, he could end up disqualified from the race, and he plans on winning the gold.
So when they keep staring at him and expecting an answer, Jim hesitates and plasters on his very best smile. “Well, that’s complicated. There are no new women in my life and the ship remains my immediate priority,” he says dutifully, which is the truth, but he’s obfuscating like a tenth level professional. “The minute anything changes, I’ll send out a memo.”
He’s about to go on about how the job has taken away his need for all that when the doorbell chime sounds and Chekov grants access to the visitor. Jim’s ready to take his leave with the interruption and as he stands (graceful and smooth), he comes face to face with Bones and goes suddenly clumsy and a mess.
He gapes at the man (who seems to be no more than six inches from him) and sputters out a pleased, “Hey.” It’s a world of difference between them since they put their issues to bed and Jim couldn’t be more pleased. Sure, they’re not going to perfect and yeah, he’s still pissed that Spock in some other universe got to see the intimate side of Bones for years and years and maybe Bones isn’t okay with Jim’s reaction to that, but it doesn’t affect tomorrow. Tomorrow is just going to be them and whatever work they’ll make of the days ahead.
“Uhura told me you were here,” Bones easily says, shooting the boys a casual ‘hey-there-and-would-you-believe-I’m-modest-about-how-hot-I-am’ smile. Jim fucking loves that smile because whenever you tell Bones about just how incredible it makes him look, he just mutters a grumbling ‘I’m not a model, Jim’ and goes about his business. “Came to fetch you before you missed our appointment.”
“…our physical slash hypospray appointment?” Jim asks warily, ready to cling at the couch and order that Sulu bind him down.
“The one where you picked up a bottle of Scotch last time you were on Earth and you owe me,” Bones replies and he’s only got eyes for Jim. In fact, if not for the quiet throat-clearing just behind him, Jim might have forgotten he’s sharing the room with other members of his crew and might have gone for the greeting kiss. “Boys? Mind if I steal the Captain?”
They both nod and Bones takes his leave. Jim grins at the both of them and offers a small salute.
“Captain?”
It’s Sulu who calls him back and before Jim can take the last two steps out the door, he offers a casual grin. “Don’t make too much noise, guys. Spock’s next door.”
None of them mention that these suites are supposed to be for married crewmembers. Sure, Chekov and Sulu aren’t at that point, but Jim doesn’t mind bending the rules a little for himself and he doesn’t mind pressing a knee on the rules to bend them a lot for his crew.
“The memo?”
“Tomorrow,” he replies without really thinking about it because it probably will be tomorrow. Tomorrow is meant to be the day that everything becomes official and he becomes one of Joanna’s emergency contacts and guardians in case of a dire situation. Tomorrow is the start of a whole new direction of Jim’s life and he doesn’t even feel fearful for what’s coming next.
He’s just looking forward to that bottle of scotch.
*
Shipwide memo sequence engaged by Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
MEMO REGARDING THE CAPTAIN’S AFFAIRS
cc: Full Enterprise Crew
bcc: Joanna McCoy, Jocelyn Treadway, Winona Kirk
This is a status update in which to allow the crew to know that Captain Jim T. Kirk will no longer be sent on diplomatic missions potentially involving romantic dalliances. He requests that queries in regards to his personal life are kept professional and he will act professional in turn as a common courtesy. He also asks that all jokes involving STI’s and the Captain be kept to a hush as the Captain’s new significant other does not appreciate said comments and assures me that the crew will not appreciate a state of dismay from said significant other.
In unrelated news, ship physicals will recommence next week.
Thank you for your attention.
THE END
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy, Sulu/Chekov
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me.
Word Count: 4,285
Summary: Jim receives a new status request from Sulu and Chekov.
Notes: This is now officially the 'Homecoming' series. It all began when Jim was in a shuttle crash and he met a strange girl. This isn't the last of the series. There are currently two more in the queue to be written.
Hard-Earned Rights // Just About Time // The Graceful Waltz // One // The Grave Memorial Of A Life Unlived // Houses & Heartwarmings // Guess Who's Coming To Dinner // Enterprise On My Mind // Your Fate's Not In The Stars // A World of Solemn Thought // Time Can Never Kill The True Heart
The missive requesting permission comes upon Jim’s desk at an ungodly hour of the morning. It’s been slipped in the midst of many clerical items as if it’s trying to shroud itself in the invisibility of tedium. Jim’s awake because he hasn’t been able to sleep since Bones took off for his own quarters and set up shop again and this is why he’s reading the status change and request at three-fifty-four in the morning.
This is the start of a very long day and Jim’s not liking how it bodes if he’s beginning it with other people’s happiness hovering around like a thick fog. He lets the request sit for hours and tries to ignore it, but it doesn’t go away. It’s still there when he checks in for his shift and begins to go through the motions.
It’s all ‘set a course this’ and ‘relay this message’ and ‘no, thank you, Mister Spock, I don’t need you to tell me about your other self again’. Jim avoids looking at most everyone and it seems that by lunch, the bridge crew has had enough of it because he’s being dragged into the ready room by Uhura.
“What?” Jim nearly yelps as she gets hold of him.
“Why are you back to acting like a twelve-year-old?” she demands, arms-crossed and a firm look on her face. Jim sighs and turns his gaze away, but he has the feeling that he’s not going to be able to escape this inquisition so easily. “Captain.” Jim’s always liked the way she does that. She makes it two words that are angry and frustrated and fond at once and one day she’s going to Captain her own ship and Jim’s going to be so proud to see that day arrive. “Jim,” she tries again and he likes the way she says that too, now. It’s sighed and there’s just a hint of regret and pity there.
“It’s not fair,” Jim finally lets loose. It sounds immature to his own ears, but the childish ringing of the words through his head doesn’t do anything to reduce the fact that from his viewpoint with binoculars bearing down on the situation, it really isn’t fair.
“Sorry, sir?” The ‘sir’ comes as an afterthought, a nearly forgotten token of respect.
He’s let loose on the first comment and the rest are tumbling after, as if Jack and Jill are waving away at the words they’ve shoved mercilessly down that hill. “It’s not fair. It took me six months to get a first date with Bones and he’s thirty-seven and Chekov is twenty-three and they’re moving in and I haven’t even put out for sex yet and some older version of your boyfriend has already hit that.” He pauses for breath and debates adding more to this litany of injustice, but Uhura is staring at him as if he’s smeared Vulcan-blood and egg-powder together and called it eyeshadow.
“Do you even hear the words you’re saying?”
“ It’s just not fair.” He could probably start claiming credits for every time he says that phrase because he doesn’t want to stop saying it, either. Another six times or so will do the trick. “You’re married, they’re living together, Scotty’s got his romance with Chapel. And I’m…”
Jim loves this best about Uhura: she implicitly understands what to say, no matter which language she’s speaking in. “You’re trying to insinuate yourself in a romantic fashion with a divorcé who has a teenaged daughter. You’re not just becoming his live-in sex expert, you’re going to become a step-father if this happens. You get a thirty-seven-year-old commitment driven man who will want it to last forever and…”
“I get it,” Jim promises quietly. It doesn’t take very long for Uhura to arrange her features in doubt and while Jim knows that’s the natural reaction, it still annoys him slightly. “And I still want him. And I love Joanna. Jocelyn’s already talking like I’m the step-dad. Well, step-dad number two.” He stops his vehement protest as he grins proudly. “She said I’m not allowed to give the birds and bees talk, but I can do the career one.”
That seems to make some kind of difference to Uhura, but Jim’s not sure how much of a change he’s made.
“Well, that may be what you want, but right now Sulu and Chekov are moving in and you and Leonard are trying to fix up a rough patch, so play nice,” she orders. “Or I’m going to make your life a living hell.”
Jim sighs heavily and knows that she’s right. Not just about the ‘living hell’ part, and not just about the ‘rough patch’, but about the general underlying message of their entire conversation. That is this:
You are too old and too responsible now to be acting like this again.
Jim just nods and feels the weary weight of his duties lying on his back once more. Normally he can bear it with the knowledge that he’ll get off work and be surrounded by friends who don’t expect him to carry on being Captain Kirk all day, but with him and Bones being so out of tune, he doesn’t know what to feel anymore.
“I’ll drop by and see to it that I congratulate them on their new arrangement,” Jim assures, assuming the role of Leader once more and his whole posture changes along with his voice. “Is that suitable?”
“A very wise choice, Captain,” Uhura agrees with a calm nod. “Now, Lieutenant Chekov has some figures he’d like you to look over.”
“Lead the way, Lieutenant.”
*
Bones hasn’t turned up in Jim’s bed for four days now and what used to be an expected occurrence has become a sought-after treat. It’s caused several nights of tossing, turning, and a general air of unease with Jim. Tonight he lies in bed and keeps one eye on the door, but it’s still dark and he doesn’t think that Bones is coming.
Jim’s starting to get the uneasy feeling that maybe his reaction to the whole mess with Spock is going to be a very strong, well-positioned nail in the coffin. He’s stamped his approval for Sulu and Chekov to move in together officially and to continue skipping along their happy little path. He’s sent off missives to his mother to check in, replied to Jocelyn to tell her not yet and at this point, looks like never in a moody fit and he doesn’t know how to reply to Joanna’s mail that asks if he and Bones will be attending her grade eight graduation ceremony and if she should tell the school that her parents are coming (he’d assumed that had been a comment about her mother until he found out that Jocelyn and Clay were vacationing the week of).
He’s staring at the open mail on his PADD as he lies in bed and lets the ghostly light cast shadows on his face.
He’s about to respond and is engrained in the depths of his thoughts when he feels the bed dip beside him. He shuffles the documents to the side and stretches enough so that his shirt rides up and he stares at Bones, who has finally come to see him.
Jim hadn’t even heard the door, but he thinks he likes it better as a surprise.
His smile is lazy and shines like a summer’s day and he goes easily when Bones pushes his palm up Jim’s chest and seems to exude strength that most people wouldn’t assume Bones possessed if they hadn’t seen him in his natural habitat of the Sick Bay.
“Hi,” Jim greets him, voice content and sticky-sweet, like the cream the cat’s about to get.
Bones doesn’t reply to him so much as he swings both legs around Jim’s hips until he’s straddling him firmly and then any hint of slowness dissipates as Bones grabs hold of Jim’s wrists and shoves them above his head. Suddenly there are handcuffs and binds and Jim’s securely fastened to each corner of the bed and Bones has stripped every last vestige of clothing off of him.
“…Leonard Horatio McCoy,” Jim drawls with a pleased grin as he watches the blindfold being wrapped around Bones’ wrist for inevitable use. “I knew the Horatio meant you were kinky.”
He doesn’t get a response out of Bones, but he does get a slanted look of consideration that bodes well for them. Bones seems to be focused on dragging his fingers over Jim’s body and evoking pleasure from the too-light touches before applying swift and hard pressure against his balls with his knee, grabbing hold of his cock and stroking hard.
It’s almost easy to forget that they’ve been dancing tangos on eggshells when it feels like electricity is sparking off between the both of them.
Jim looks up and the room feels so dark that it’s almost black. Except there in the center of it is Bones and he’s shining like a sun about to go supernova. He’s Jim’s world in that moment and his stomach tumbles in a spiral ever-downwards as he feels like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. The blindfold is knotted on and Jim’s whole world goes dark, now.
“Bones, I’m so sorry,” he gets out quietly, but he’s shut up with a gag to his mouth and then every apology is muffled, but no less meant.
So now he’s splayed in every which direction on the bed, he can’t see, he can’t speak, but Bones is touching him and making his back arch off the bed with every touch and every kiss.
Fuck, he thinks.
“Yes, Bones,” he muffles, knowing that his words are obscured by the gag, but it doesn’t matter when Bones is using the width of his legs as an invitation to slowly push inside and to… “Fuck!” Jim lets out a broken cry of joy. “Yes!”
“Jim,” Bones is whispering in his ear, pressing a long kiss that burns to Jim’s neck. “You have to remember. It’s not always about the sex.”
And suddenly Jim can see again and the blindfold is gone. Bones isn’t touching him and is merely sitting down and staring at him contemplatively as he forms his fingers in the traditional way of a Vulcan about to perform a mindmeld before he presses them firmly to Jim’s forehead.
He lets out a sudden cry, but nothing happens.
And then suddenly Bones is gone and Jim is still tied and…
“Bones?”
He’s awake. Jim’s not bound, not gagged, not tied and he’s awake. He’s also alone and that means that everything he’d felt and thought he’d seen had been nothing more than a dream. It takes nearly five minutes to place himself in his room and to come to terms with the fact that it had all been in his head. His mouth is dry and his boxers are wet and he sighs with a disgruntled sound and tries to remember just when he fell asleep. The PADD sits discarded amidst the covers and the message from Joanna is still awaiting response.
“God damn it,” he sighs as he leans over for a towel to try and clean himself off slightly.
Someone is busy opening the door to his room in the meantime and Jim barely spares a glance up. He doesn’t lock the door because he knows that when he’s asleep, any of the bridge crew might need him. In fact, the only time he had ever locked his door had been in deference and respect to Bones wanting to keep the fact that they slept in the same bed a private matter. He just collapses back against the bed and drapes a hand over his eyes.
The bed dips and Jim wants to know when his dreams started running cyclically. He has half a mind to contact Engineering and ask if they’ve passed through any strange ion fields in the last little while that might account for this. He lifts his arm long enough to see the glint of starlight off Bones’ dark hair and smiles ruefully.
“The same dream twice in one night,” he observes as he wriggles slightly and tries to get ready for it to happen again. “Nice.”
He gets a fierce pinch for his efforts.
Apparently this one’s real. “Ow! Fuck, Bones,” he whines softly. “Fine, no jokes,” he sighs and puts the mature-face on again because this is a side of him that’s checked out since the revelation arrived about his Bones and the other-Spock. “Are you staying the night?”
“Yeah,” Bones exhales and toes his shoes off before crawling under the covers and contorting their positions until Bones is curled around Jim from behind and they occupy hardly any of the bed. The warmth is almost overwhelming and this isn’t any kind of inferno that Jim’s planned for. It’s just them. “Thought we could do with a talk. And I missed sleeping with someone in my bed.”
“Bones, listen I…”
“Jim, shut up. This is one of those talks where you just get to listen while I talk to you. What happens in other universes doesn’t matter. I can have Scotty pull up the stats he’s got on the probabilities of other universes where you’re a woman, I’m a woman, or you’re a unicorn,” he sarcastically notes. “It doesn’t affect us. There is no spillover and I am not with Spock. You know that and I know that and Uhura makes damn well sure the whole world knows that. I’m with you, Jim. And not only am I with you, but I’m trying to let you into my life, god damn it. Do you know how rough that is on a man who lost every bit of it once upon a time because he was stupid?”
There’s a lull in the conversation, but Jim doesn’t say anything because he can sense that Bones isn’t exactly through. They’re not even looking each other in the eye, but maybe that’s the only way this can happen. Maybe eye contact would ruin the intimacy of the moment and would send Bones into a fearful fit of nerves.
Though, he does want to later comment on the universes where they’re both women. He’d like to know if Scotty can possibly procure some security footage for very important delegate reasons.
“I lost Jocelyn because we were young and bitter and it’s taken me this long to get her and Jo back. I’m thirty-seven, Jim. I want my next relationship to be it and I’m not ready to bend and make adjustments because of you. I want you in my life, I sure as hell do, but if you’re serious about wanting me, then you better be ready to accept me, warts and all, James Kirk,” Bones warns, voice heavy. “I told you that you’re the one. That means that’s it, Jim. You’re her stepfather, you put in time at family occasions and you meet Jocelyn’s mother because the woman’s got a fondness for me that I can’t quite explain and wants to meet this new man of mine. You come to Christmas, you always check in with Medbay first and I hate to say it, but the time for sleeping around is done if you really want to do this. And hell, Jim, if you don’t want that, I get it if you want to leave, but…”
This is the point in time in which Jim decides that not saying anything isn’t going to do him a lick of good. So he exhales a heady ‘shit, Bones, shut up’ and nearly pounces to get atop Bones and press a lengthy and long kiss to Bones’ lips. Jim softly parts his lips and sucks Bones’ lower lip between them before exhaling a soft breath and pressing a softer kiss to the top lip, as if afraid it might grow jealous of its counterpart.
Each kiss is punctuated with a slow rock forward that gently coaxes more friction between the two of them. It’s not long at all before rocking kisses grow into desperate and clumsy meetings of mouths as they try and sate themselves on the edge of this serious discussion.
“I’m not…fuck,” Jim exhales with a low howl, “twenty-five…anymore, Bones.” His hand digs into the sheets and he clenches his teeth together when Bones shifts his body and they’re pushing against each other at a whole new angle. “I get joys in simple things. The Enterprise. The missions. You.” He let out another pained sound of joy and grinned as he threw his head back to the ceiling, straddling Bones. “Besides,” he gets out sharply. “Don’t think I could l-look Jo in the eye knowing I was cheating on her Dad.”
“Do not talk about…” Bones warns, but the remainder of his sentence is lost as both of his strong hands come down like clamps on Jim’s biceps and haul him down for a smash of a kiss.
“Yeah’kay.”
Jim makes a concerted effort to go for the buckles of his trousers and tries to get them off, but it’s no use. They’re in too much of a hurry and they haven’t even been in casual contact with each other, much less this furious onslaught of intimacy. Before Jim can wiggle out of his tight boxers, he’s already coming and letting out another curse about ruined pants. The words of blame die in his throat when Bones rocks up against him and drags up against his thigh and all Jim can feel is a burst of warmth.
Somehow it makes him feel just about okay that he’s not the only one coming in his pants like a teenager - though, twice in one night is a little too much for his pride.
Bones collapses half-atop him, askew and the furrow on his brow has yet to go away. Jim’s beginning to wonder if it’s ever going to disappear fully or if he’s earned that for life.
And speaking of life…
“Go ahead and put the papers through,” Jim murmurs quietly. “For me and Joanna. They gave me the Enterprise a second time, Bones. Give me a first chance.” The rest he can do in his sleep. It’s easy to love Bones if you can dodge all the incoming verbal assaults and battered walls lying around his heart. You just have to know the right way in and Jim’s never believed in a no-win scenario.
*
After everything, Jim still goes to Sulu and Chekov’s new quarters with a little fruit basket that he’d picked up on one of his last shore leaves (Bones had idly peered over his shoulder and expressed disgust as to the fact that no one in the universe ought to want genetically-modified bananas that were barely the size of your pinky). Still, Jim thinks it’s cute and it fits what he wants to give them - something small, but thoughtful.
He’s in a much better mood than he had been when he got the request and he grins as Chekov opens the door and coaxes him in without so much as a hello, prattling on about the new quarters and asking if he had seen the view they had of one of the solar systems to the aft of the ship and ‘this is where Hikaru’s sword collection will hang, tell him, Hikaru, about your swords’.
Jim just sits and listens to all the plans they have for this new place and watches the easy way Sulu can drape his arm around Chekov’s shoulders as they converse easily about the life they’re building together and the shared future they plan to conquer. Jim’s pretty easy to please when it comes to seeing his crew safe and happy, but this kind of makes him feel even better.
It’s almost like he wants to take credit for this happening, but he can’t, exactly.
“So?” Sulu’s curiosity is interrupting Jim’s drifting thoughts, trying to slowly meander their way away from the room and possibly out of orbit.
Jim raises a brow. “So, what? If you guys want raises too, I pretty much spent the budget getting you guys this place.”
“And it is beautiful, we thank you,” Chekov insisted, chin high and a proud look upon his face. “However, I believe what Hikaru means to ask in a subtle way is whether or not you have any romantic escapades of which you would like to share.” Jim shifts uneasily as he uncrosses his legs and recrosses them.
Uhura is singularly the only crew member who knows the depth of what’s going on between him and Bones. The truth is that everyone knows they’re tightly-knit best friends and that the closeness between them seems to exceed the closeness of friends in general, but they aren’t aware of what happened in Georgia or Iowa or any other homes where the comfort of familiar territory had led to new situations. Now, with Sulu and Chekov looking at him expectantly, he’s not sure what to say. His conversation with Bones last night has all but clarified that they are, with certainty, a them. This means guardianship papers involving Joanna and it means a new status and while it doesn’t mean shared quarters just yet (the key word is ‘slow’ because Jim is not going to fuck this one up), it means that the entire crew will know soon enough.
Just not yet.
He has the feeling that if he jumps the gun, he could end up disqualified from the race, and he plans on winning the gold.
So when they keep staring at him and expecting an answer, Jim hesitates and plasters on his very best smile. “Well, that’s complicated. There are no new women in my life and the ship remains my immediate priority,” he says dutifully, which is the truth, but he’s obfuscating like a tenth level professional. “The minute anything changes, I’ll send out a memo.”
He’s about to go on about how the job has taken away his need for all that when the doorbell chime sounds and Chekov grants access to the visitor. Jim’s ready to take his leave with the interruption and as he stands (graceful and smooth), he comes face to face with Bones and goes suddenly clumsy and a mess.
He gapes at the man (who seems to be no more than six inches from him) and sputters out a pleased, “Hey.” It’s a world of difference between them since they put their issues to bed and Jim couldn’t be more pleased. Sure, they’re not going to perfect and yeah, he’s still pissed that Spock in some other universe got to see the intimate side of Bones for years and years and maybe Bones isn’t okay with Jim’s reaction to that, but it doesn’t affect tomorrow. Tomorrow is just going to be them and whatever work they’ll make of the days ahead.
“Uhura told me you were here,” Bones easily says, shooting the boys a casual ‘hey-there-and-would-you-believe-I’m-modest-about-how-hot-I-am’ smile. Jim fucking loves that smile because whenever you tell Bones about just how incredible it makes him look, he just mutters a grumbling ‘I’m not a model, Jim’ and goes about his business. “Came to fetch you before you missed our appointment.”
“…our physical slash hypospray appointment?” Jim asks warily, ready to cling at the couch and order that Sulu bind him down.
“The one where you picked up a bottle of Scotch last time you were on Earth and you owe me,” Bones replies and he’s only got eyes for Jim. In fact, if not for the quiet throat-clearing just behind him, Jim might have forgotten he’s sharing the room with other members of his crew and might have gone for the greeting kiss. “Boys? Mind if I steal the Captain?”
They both nod and Bones takes his leave. Jim grins at the both of them and offers a small salute.
“Captain?”
It’s Sulu who calls him back and before Jim can take the last two steps out the door, he offers a casual grin. “Don’t make too much noise, guys. Spock’s next door.”
None of them mention that these suites are supposed to be for married crewmembers. Sure, Chekov and Sulu aren’t at that point, but Jim doesn’t mind bending the rules a little for himself and he doesn’t mind pressing a knee on the rules to bend them a lot for his crew.
“The memo?”
“Tomorrow,” he replies without really thinking about it because it probably will be tomorrow. Tomorrow is meant to be the day that everything becomes official and he becomes one of Joanna’s emergency contacts and guardians in case of a dire situation. Tomorrow is the start of a whole new direction of Jim’s life and he doesn’t even feel fearful for what’s coming next.
He’s just looking forward to that bottle of scotch.
*
Shipwide memo sequence engaged by Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
MEMO REGARDING THE CAPTAIN’S AFFAIRS
cc: Full Enterprise Crew
bcc: Joanna McCoy, Jocelyn Treadway, Winona Kirk
This is a status update in which to allow the crew to know that Captain Jim T. Kirk will no longer be sent on diplomatic missions potentially involving romantic dalliances. He requests that queries in regards to his personal life are kept professional and he will act professional in turn as a common courtesy. He also asks that all jokes involving STI’s and the Captain be kept to a hush as the Captain’s new significant other does not appreciate said comments and assures me that the crew will not appreciate a state of dismay from said significant other.
In unrelated news, ship physicals will recommence next week.
Thank you for your attention.
THE END