AN – I should say that I (unfortunately) cannot claim ownership of Star Trek, any of the characters, or even really of the original idea, as this fic was inspired by a fic called No Want for the Stars by purloinedinpetrograd. If you have the time, I live off reviews and criticism, which I am ever very grateful to receive.

"Come here, Kirk. I have something for you."

All in all, it had been a fair trade-off. Admittedly he'd preferred things how they were before, but they weren't bad now. All he had to do was follow Khan around all day and entertain himself when no one needed him. Himself for his crew, pretty much exactly the deal they'd been trying to make with Khan before everything went pear-shaped. And at least he was still on a starship, which was mercifully free of dark corners, torture chambers and even dust bunnies (this only stood out because Jim had never actually seen anyone cleaning, so eventually he had come to the conclusion that Khan's crew secretly ate dirt when he wasn't around.)

He wasn't even badly treated. After almost three terran months here as Khan's unofficial pet starship captain, he'd long ago lost his fear that the augment would pull a Carol Marcus on him or throw him out of an airlock. He found him far too amusing for that. It was constant:

"Out of the chair, Kirk, dogs don't sit on the furniture."

"Heel, Kirk."

"I left my padd in my quarters. Fetch boy."

So if anything, Khan would probably have bought him a chew toy or a pair of clip on ears or something. Embarrassing, sure, but never so bad as unpleasant. Wearily, Jim turned to face him and stepped closer. Khan was holding a strap of some kind, a shortish strip of black leather with a silver ring more or less in the centre and a matching buckle at one end. He lifted it a little and let it hang by the buckle from one long, pale finger and … oh, it was a collar. Jim took it all back. This really was humiliating enough to be unpleasant.

"Do you know why I'm giving you this?"

Jim looked at the floor and refused to make eye contact. "No."

"Guess.", dangerously low, growled, and if three months of experience was anything to go by, not actually an indication that any harm was going to come to him.

Jim knew Khan would want him to look at him, but he couldn't bear to look into those mocking, blue eyes for another second. Didn't want to have to see his smug amusement at another humiliation. A lot of the time, those cold blue eyes, narrowed as they were, searching for weakness and hiding any vulnerabilities, reminded Jim of the eyes of a shark. Khan in general reminded him of a shark. But this is what he'd come to. Passively aggressively denying Khan eye contact when a few months ago he would have just found a way to shoot him.

"Because I'm a dog." Defeated.

"No. Again." His other hand came to rest on Jim's chin and gently tilted his head back.

It wasn't hard enough to actually make him move, but he knew that Khan could easily snap his neck like this so he went with the movement just to be on the safe side. Even so, he kept his eyes down. "Because … I'm your dog?"

"Almost. Guess again."

That... that didn't make any sense. Jim looked up in surprise and caught Khan's eye. Since he had only seen him be variations on angry, bored and sadistically amused, he had assumed that these were the limits of his emotional range when his crew weren't involved. What he saw was a veneer of irritation and detached amusement, sure, but beneath that there were traces of anticipation, excitement, hope and most shocking of all, uncertainty. Like Khan was impatiently waiting for something but wasn't sure that he was actually going to get it. In all the time Jim had known him, he had never looked less than totally sure of himself. Was Khan... worried about his answer? It wasn't until the augment eventually blinked and shifted a little with impatience that the spell was broken and Jim remembered that he was still waiting for an response.

"Because I'm yours."

For the first time ever, Jim saw Khan smile with genuine happiness. It wasn't even sarcastic or predatory. (Well, maybe a little predatory.) I was a real, so-happy-his-entire-perfect-face-was-scrunched-up grin.

"Good boy, James."

To be perfectly honest, by this point Jim was more or less used to weird. Weird was finding yourself locked in combat with a 300 year old superhuman who got just a little obsessive. Weird was voluntarily moving in with this megalomaniac (even if it was to protect all his friends) and then not finding it massively unpleasant, even beneficial in some ways. (Whatever he was missing out on on-board the Enterprise right now, he was certain that beating Spock at chess would be easy. After months of nightly practise he'd even beaten Khan once, completely by accident.) One thing he definitely wasn't anticipating was Khan suddenly closing the space between them and pressing his lips against Jim's. Now that really was weird.

The touch was strangely chaste, and perhaps because it was so gentle Jim paused for long enough to note that for a man seemingly made out of solid marble and sarcasm, Khan had really soft lips. It eventually registered somewhere what he was doing and he did try to break away, but any notions of escape Jim might have had were dashed when he stepped back and Khan's spare hand whipped out to cradle the back of his head, simultaneously holding him in place. The metal of the collar buckle was still looped over one of his fingers, and Jim could feel the length of the strap brushing against the spot between his shoulder blades. He'd always been ticklish there. The light, unexpected friction drew a shocked, slightly hysterical giggle from him which he didn't think to smother. Before he had time to think any more Khan was smiling against his lips and deliberately letting a couple of fingers trail across his upper back. Jim couldn't help it, he laughed again.

Khan moved away then, and Jim was allowed to enjoy the feeling of relief for all of three seconds before ridiculously long, strong fingers seized him around the back and shoulders and began to tickle him mercilessly. He writhed and thrashed for all he was worth, but found himself ultimately no match for augment strength. The image suddenly came to him of his probable reaction to being told he'd one day be the loser in a tickle fight with Khan back on the Enterprise, and by the time he laughed himself out and collapsed against the rock hard chest in front of him, still chuckling weakly, it wasn't because he was being tickled anymore.

Khan let him regain his composure and then smirked. "Really?"

Then he went on the offensive again, throwing himself forwards and crushing his lips to Jim's with none of his earlier restraint. He was tireless, nibbling, licking, capturing Jim's lips between his own. His tongue lapped at the seam, and with a sigh Jim finally parted them, earning him a veritable purr and the realisation that damn... Khan was a really good kisser. He was enjoying this revelation and only just really starting to consider what he could do with it when the augment abruptly stepped back again and Jim actually whined at the loss before he could stop himself. The deep chuckle he got in response almost made it worth it.

Khan held out the collar again, this time turning it sideways and placing it against Jim's throat. When Jim took a deep, slightly shaky breath but did not protest he slipped his hands around to the back of his neck and fastened the buckle, tightly enough that the leather was flush to his skin and would not slip, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Jim was surprised by how good it felt, the inside was soft and seemed to be made out of suede and the silver fittings were reassuringly heavy and cool against his skin. It felt right, felt safe, already. When he looked up Khan was gazing at him through half-closed eyes again, though if he had to guess Jim would say they were narrowed with something completely unlike deceit and anger now.

Neither of them moved for a long second. It was intense, and Jim opened his mouth, shooting for levity but mostly missing, "So, how do I look?", he pouted and struck a ridiculous pose, finding the effect mostly ruined by his breathlessness.

Khan didn't seem to mind. "Beautiful.", he stepped closer again and pressed one more kiss against Jim's lips.

This time when Khan smiled at him, he smiled back.