It was a rare thing for Spock to show his emotion, much less in public, and so it came as a quiet, slow shock whenever he did display the feelings within him, to himself and everyone close to him.
It was another of these rare moments that had Kirk staring, openly amused, as the corners of Spock's lips turned up the slightest, his eyes for one person and one person only. Nyota had done a good job with the translation, managing to salvage the transmission and relay a message back to those who would have otherwise attacked them, effectively eliminating the threat and saving the crew of the Enterprise.
Spock had been diligent at her side, eyes tracing every one of her slightest movements, a silent presence. It almost looked as if it had helped her concentrate, with him beside her.
There was an uproar, a surge of clapping and whistles, relieved sighs and adrenaline-filled veins, and Kirk had smiled his best smile, congratulating her on another job well done.
Spock took a turn, hands behind his back, the tiniest, almost invisible smile painting his features as she glanced up at him, smirking.
"An excellent job, Nyota."
Whenever he found reason to voice her name, it was always with a hushed, reserved kind of respect, a slow, surprised kind of reverence, a blatant denial of the idea that she could ever want him to break the professional veil in public, but she beamed at the sound of it on his tongue and nodded at him, standing on her tiptoes to press a soft, lingering kiss on his cheek, her own smile felt against his warm skin.
He reached down and wrapped his fingers around her wrist, feeling the fluttering of her pulse at his touch, and his mouth lifted further.
Kirk called to her to give her a glass of wine, and when Nyota pulled away, she brushed her fingertips down Spock's palm, dark eyes shining with satisfaction, while his heart pounded fiercely, his own kind of pride glinting in his unblinking, wide gaze, the ghost of her lips against his cheek, the memory of her touch on his palm.
Based off a prompt given by samttuummaa over on Tumblr.
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