"Oh, love," Jim Kirk whispered with a smile when he walked into his apartment at something like one in the morning. Asleep on the couch was his adorably rumpled boyfriend who, if he was guessing, probably had himself a very long day.
Ever since the company that Scotty worked for took on that damn government contract, he'd been burning the candle at both ends. Because he was working as the chief engineer on a few projects, he woke up early and went to sleep late six nights a week for the last six months. Not that Jim had much room to talk, working on a PhD in international relations at UC Berkeley was no simple task. Between the classes, the research and his job -because he refuses not to pay his way regardless of the fact that Scotty makes six times more money than he does- as a teaching assistant, Jim considered himself lucky if they got to spend more than five minutes in the same room. Hell, not seeing each other as often as they liked was one of the reasons they moved in together.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Jim pulled off his jacket, sat his bag on the floor and walked over, running his fingers through his boyfriend's light brown hair while taking the tablet out of his hands, not even a little surprised that Scotty was reading one of the million technical journals he had in his queue. Jim looked at him and tried to decide the best course of action. Usually, he was the one who fell asleep on the couch, buried under books and his laptop. Scotty would come in and, no matter how tired he was, he'd cajole Jim into their bed.
Unfortunately, Jim only had a few options in regards to getting Scotty into bed. Carrying him was out because, thanks to all that heavy lifting he does, Scotty had his fair share of muscles hiding behind the button downs and he was heavy. Waking him up was out too, he doesn't sleep enough as it is and if Jim tried to get him to move, his boyfriend would find an excuse not to go back to bed. The best idea Jim could think of was to let the sleeping Scotsman be.
Jim give Scotty a kiss on his forehead before turning off the light and heading to their room. It took all of two minutes to change into pajamas, which was actually just Scotty's favorite University of Edinburgh t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and for Jim realize that he wasn't going to be able to sleep alone.
"The couch it is," he mumbled before he grabbed one of their pillows and a blanket off the bed and went back into the living room.
Scotty, still deep in his sleep, didn't move when Jim put the pillow under his head or when he pulled off his boots but the second he laid half on Scotty and half on the couch, his boyfriend shifted and his arms snaked around Jim, pulling him tight against his chest. That warm feeling that Jim always gets from being in close proximity to Scotty settled over him as he got comfortable. Inhaling that mix of metal and Scotty that never failed to calm his nerves, Jim rested his head on Scotty's shoulder and drifted off to sleep.
Montgomery Scott was warm, at least, warmer than he should've been for someone who fell asleep alone on the couch. He had a long day and, instead of coming home and going to bed like a sane person, he thought he could catch up on some updates to the system he'd been working on. Admittedly, he didn't get very far, his need for sleep winning out over everything else. He must've been out for a while too if Jim came home he didn't even notice. Usually, Scotty would hear him when he came in, stumbling about in exhaustion before climbing into bed or felling asleep on the couch.
Scotty didn't have to open his eyes to know that Jim was the reason why he was warm, the younger man's whole body was pressed against him, Jim's arm wrapped around his waist and their legs tangled together. They were also under a blanket and Jim gave off heat like you wouldn't believe. Shifting just a little, Scotty looked at his watch. Half past three in the morning.
"Go back to sleep," Jim muttered against his chest, his voice deeper than usual.
"When did ye get home, laddie?" he asked, dropping a kiss on the mess of blonde hair.
"Sometime after one. Sleep."
He let out a chuckle because Jim was much worse than him. Between the classes he had to take, the research he was working on and everything else he had to do on any given day, Jim getting home after midnight wasn't as odd as it used to be. Scotty was still holding out hope that Jim's schedule will ease off in the next few months since he was almost done with his dissertation but knowing the hyperactive man as well as he does, Scotty knew that Jim will probably jump right into something else.
People often ask just how he ended up with the beautiful creature eleven years his junior and the answer was simply that he had no idea. They met at a party that Auri, Jim's sister-in-law and Scotty's coworker, threw and they spent the whole night just talking to each other. The one time Jim asked him out, Scotty actually turned him down. It wasn't that he didn't like Jim, he obviously did and does, it was that Jim was a twenty-one-year-old about to start grad school and Scotty was thirty-two-year-old engineer who was working his way up to running his department, he didn't need the drama that he assumed would come from dating someone a decade younger than him, not that Jim had any more drama than anyone else.
Of course, his heart didn't get the memo from his head, especially not with Jim popping up at every other gathering he went to. Turned out that, in addition to him working with Jim's sister-in-law, Scotty's boss and Jim's mentor were good friends so Scotty ended up seeing Jim at almost every work function that he forced himself to go to. Then, one day, he stopped showing up everywhere. The first time it happened, he didn't think much of it but the second and third time actually worried him. Auri assured him that Jim was fine and promised to let Jim know that Scotty asked about him. A few days later, Jim popped up at their office with a bright smile despite -what he now knows was- a lack of adequate sleep. That turned into getting coffee, which led to a date, then more dates before, eventually, becoming a couple.
"Stop thinking and go to sleep," Jim told him.
"Cannae help it; I'm thinking about you."
"Well, stop."
"Nope. Dinnae want to."
"I love you too, Scotty," Jim chuckled, his hands sliding under Scotty's shirt. "Now sleep before I find a much better activity for us to do on this couch."
"Threatening me with sex is not a way to get me back to sleep," Scotty laughed.
"It's not? Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure but, if ye like, I'm more than willing to demonstrate."