And we all got a bit of jealousy
Jim takes a swig from the bottle and gasps as the burn streaks down his throat.
Spock’s supposed to be his, his, but no. All that half-Vulcan asshole wants to do is suck up to Uhura all over again.
Something fierce burns at the corner of Jim’s eyes. God, he hates this.
Hell, he’s not slow. Nor is he blind. He knew that Spock didn’t like his guts (hate is such a strongword) from the day Bones smuggled him aboard the enterprise. But all of that arrogant intolerance towards Jim melted into something calm and understanding. Things started to improve after the Narada. And then when Jim went and got himself offed because of Khan, Spock was even more receptive towards his Captain. Sure, it took him almost ripping the eugenic’s heart out, but Jim’s not complaining. It was kinda comforting to know that there was someone out there in the universe who’d kill for you.
And then Jim started getting closer to Spock.
Really didn’t have a choice.
But did he really not want to pay attention to the man who’d gone and almost killed a 300-year old madman for him?
Yeah. Didn’t think so. It wasn’t nice.
Not that Jim had ever given two shits about what was nice and what wasn’t. But he did wanna stop this God-awful guilty feeling seeping under his skin whenever he’d go out of his way to ignore Spock.
So he asked Spock whether he’d like to sit with him during meals.
Honestly, Jim hadn’t been expecting anything.
Maybe a snarky, “I would do so Captain, if, I felt famished.”
Or a polite, yet firm, “Captain, might I remind you that Vulcans can survive for long periods without consuming any nutrition.”
Or maybe a condescending, “If the good Doctor has ordered you into a dietary regime, Captain, would you be so kind as to not drag me into it?”
But no, Spock doesn’t say any of those things.
“Yes Captain. Shall we leave for dinner together after the alpha shift?”
Jim’s so dumbstruck; he doesn’t know what to say and so hopelessly manages an awkward nod.
Spock gives him one of those head tilts and that’s that.
They meet for dinner after that.
And lunch the next day. And dinner after that as well.
Jim never manages to catch Spock in the mornings, because the Commander leaves for the bridge a whole precious 15 minutes before his shift. Jim can’t understand how someone couldvoluntarily give up on their sleep time.
But ohmygod they have a routine and it’s one thing Jim never imagined he could share with his Vulcan First Officer.
The routine forces them to talk. Course, it’s usually Jim stuffing food down his throat faster than he can chew. He’ll never forget the one time he was scarfing down a beef sandwich and the face Spock made when a bit of meat spray landed in his vegetarian soup.
And then, one day, Jim discovers his first can play chess.
And shit. That’s something he never expects.
Or maybe he does, because he remembers memories of intense chess games bleeding over during the meld from Old Spock on the Ice Planet.
And once again, instead of Spock shooting him down and leaving him to pick up the pieces of his cracked ego, he says yes.
And Jim can hardly believe it.
They try playing in one of the rec rooms first.
It doesn’t go very well because of all the chitter-chatter around them and then some inquisitive ensigns meander over and start placing bets over which commanding officer is going to be kicking which commanding officer’s ass.
Jim can’t hear shit, but Spock lets him in on the not-so-big secret because Vulcan ears are apparently like cats.
Spock also says that it wouldn’t be good for crew moral if their crew saw one commanding officer lose to the other commanding officer and Jim hasn’t heard such a crock of shit in his life.
He knows that Spock thinks his Captain ought to have privacy after the Vulcan beats his ass at chess.
It’s a major surprise when Jim wins.
He can’t keep the smirk off his face. Spock’s just looking totally dumbfounded at the board. Well, as dumbfounded as a Vulcan can get.
Jim silently crows in victory. He mentally shimmies and shakes his ass in the Vulcan’s face with an annoying chant of, “I won. I won.”
When Spock gives him an intense look under long lashes, Jim abruptly freezes and remembers that Spock’s the most powerful telepath for his generation. With the annihilation of Vulcan, he’s probably the only most powerful telepath.
Jim abruptly shuts up his mental in-your-face cheerleading.
Things kinda get… better from there.
Spock’s waiting by the turbolift every morning, walking with Jim to his Chair. Jim found it weird in the beginning, but he can’t deny that little frission of warmth that runs through him to see Spock waiting for him to go and conquer the rest of the unknown universe.
Then they leave together for lunch, get tripped on by Bones, who, if he thinks that Jim isn’t getting enough greens, metaphorically sits on Spock’s head when Jim isn’t getting those greens.
They go back and finish their shift, have dinner and then it’s to their respective quarters to freshen up and catch up on the day’s paperwork. Round about 2000 hrs, Spock’ll slip into his room and Jim would’ve already set up the chess set. They’ll sit, facing each other, a tumbler of whisky for Jim and a hot Vulcan tea for Spock. Jim get white or black, depending on who won the match and Spock won’t watch the board with hawk eyes, but he almost makes it there. Spock’s told him once that if he pays attention to every move Jim makes, there could be a possibility that he could beat him. Jim just clucks his tongue sympathetically and tweaks his mouth consolingly at Spock that then morphs into pure laughter. Those times that Jim laughs, he thinks he hasn’t laughed harder and Spock looks at him with a very speculative? look in his eye.
Spock and Uhura broke up waaay before and that what even makes this better. The fact that he has his Vulcan Commander all to himself and doesn’t need to dodge any bullets or fists from neglected, under-indulged girlfriends makes it even better.
Which is why he gets a bad start when he sees Spock sitting with Uhura for lunch.
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