A/N: While I have (no lie) 100+ pages of Between two suns already written most of it is the ending and there are not enough S/U going on yet. They're not my characters so they take a little bit more time to flesh out and be recognizable. That being said I have some gifts that I need to post so I'm finishing those as I take time to get these next three chapters for BTS ready. This is a typical 5:1 prompt for AdelphaHighbrow on AO3 of mind touching and it had to be fluffy so I kept my ass in the T rated lane. Second half to come later.
They stare in awkward silence with the small carton of milk held between them, unsure of how to excuse the faux pas.
He had been busy holding his tray, arranging his lunch and thinking about his next class's lesson plan to notice that they were reaching for the same drink. So when his fingers glanced against hers they are both stunned by the exchange.
The impression of her mind is hazy, like one trying to view the horizon through the waves of heat radiating off the ground, sticking to him like a warm, wet cloth. Only the most immediate concepts were legible, her want of the milk, her mild fatigue from waking early after a long night and...peanut butter? The thought of sweet legume was so strong that he could almost taste the thick, cloying paste. He shifted his tongue along the roof of his mouth and rolled his lips at the phantom taste.
Her hand recoiled away from his and she cleared her throat with an intentional noise. " Commander."
It only one word but when the cadet looked at him Spock saw a wealth of meaning behind it. An apology, an acknowledgement and...her assurance that she was well if he was.
" Cadet." he said placing the milk on his tray while she grabs the one behind it. They walk in silence down the the cafeteria concession, sliding their trays along the shiny, metal rails until they reach the cashier at the end.
Studying her from the corner of his eye did he spy her biting her lip, for what reason he is unsure while worrying her thumb over the fingers that touched his own. His eyes watch the movement, curious to know if the Cadet was experiencing any lingering effects.
As he lifted his tray to depart Spock reached over and picked up one of the small plates of peanut butter cookies lining the confectionary section near the register. He placed it on her tray with a small glance in her direction before departing towards the tables.
He did not see her turn her face to hide her smile or her subsequent purchase.
Spock was just finishing the last spear of his spicy asparagus when saw the same small brown hand from earlier come back into view and drop a neatly wrapped blondie square with white chocolate chunks in front of him.
He glances up in surprise and blushed slightly at her smile. She is quite beautiful. He searched for her name and found it seconds later. " Cadet Uhura, I do not require any additional food."
" No, sir you don't but I think you deserve it, Commander. Enjoy your day, sir."
As he stares at her retreating figures he swallowed down the suspicion that she felt much more in the touch than he realized.
He didn't think that they would have endured this long.
Endure is the wrong verb to describe their particular...situation. That made it seem unpleasant, something that was being long suffered or burdened with. Nyota and her company were far from invidious.
His singular regard of who Nyota was to him with the possibility to expand upon that definition was the best experiment he conducted to date, if he allowed himself to speculate.
It has been nothing more than three dates over some form of dining or drinking but all three instances have been beyond their expectations. The relationship that they forged therein was thriving much to his satisfaction as while as to his surprise. Though none may have thought it, Spock has learned from their time together that he and Nyota were quite complimentary.
It is from this newfound knowledge that he expresses his desire to progress deeper into their 'relationship', formulate a new hypothesis if they would.
So when he asked her, Nyota seemed genuinely delighted at the prospect. She leaned over towards him with her plush lips slightly parted, her lids heavy and a hand outstretched to rest on his thigh and he chided himself for his lack of clarity.
He saw she has misinterpreted his meaning and shied away from her face. She looked at him in confusion now as if he has been needless misleading in his words. Ironic perhaps.
" I'm sorry, what did you mean by making our relationship...more intimate?"
Spock watched Nyota's eyes studied his face for any indication of his words until they creased with a frown as the search turned up empty.
" I desire to meld with you."
She blinked at him and shifted on the couch with an expression he couldn't discern. He had rushed the words out of his mouth, uncertain of the repercussions or her reaction to such a vulnerable exchange.
His apprehension grew as the silence stretched between them.
I have asked to early he thinks as he straightened his back. Spock held his hands at his sides on the couch cushion well away from her own less she touch him as realize his angst. How very foolish and human of him to be hopeful.
He had been rash to ask, no more controlled than some hormone struck teen alone with his bondmate for the first time.
The evening had been so amicable and he had ruined it. Their conversation had been easy, their fare quite palatable and the affinity between them steadily developing. And then I overstepped the boundaries of propriety Spock thought chagrined. Best to excuse himself before he further damaged their tentative relationship.
" Nyota I-"
" - will it hurt?"
He was unprepared for her question but answered automatically. " Physically not at all. It will just my hands...on your face. Along here." he gestured above her face with his fingers. " There is however a high statistical chance of emotional transference. While some of the emotions you may witness or experience within the meld may be uncomfortable I can assure you that it will not harm you."
He watches her nervously lick her lips and dart her eyes to the coffee table. For the first time he can recall he feels flush in her presence. One heeled foot delicately bounces in the air as she uncrosses and refolds her legs over one another. " You want this?"
" Yes, very much." he replies quickly and stiffens at her laughter soon after.
She smiles at him warmly and slides closer. " I can tell. Okay, let's go deeper. What will you or I see?"
" I will link us into the meld but you will be our guide. It is whatever you want me to see."
" Ugh that's so vague. Do better."
He raises a hand and cups her cheek. The touch of it cool and soft, reminding Spock of tucking into a freshly made bed. The notion inspires comfort between them both as she feels his admiration of her person. " Think of something you have never shared with anyone."
He splays his fingers and runs them higher up along her face. Not even a second later her psi points pull at his digits with an almost mental magnetism. Spock lightly pushes where sensation is the strongest and hold her faces with the other hand.
They are staring at one another when the brown of her eyes looks as if it is engulfing the black of her pupil.
They are one a large shuttlecraft with Nyota as a young adolescent and Spock as a invisible observer. He feels her joy and excitement as she gaze out at the large ringed planet looming below her. She is taken with its green color and illogical wishes that earth had rings around it as well.
Her parents tell her as much about the rings but her uncle encourages the irrational desire. Raheem her mind calls him and Spock knows this man to be special to her. They are visiting his new dwelling there when a malfunction causes an explosion in the ship. Her parents are instantly stunned while Spock is rocked by the panic that grips her.
Space and time fluctuate as she moves slowly and her surroundings move faster. Her uncle was out of the shuttle trying to fix when the malfunction when the eruption took place and is now hurling towards the planet. Spock looks on in horror as his Vulcan mind grimly calculates his chances for survival. Raheem contacts the ship and Nyota's hands move across the console to answer. Alarms are blaring and lights blind her every time they flash in warning but she listens and clings to his every word like an order.
Turn off the gravity. Pull your parents into the escape pod. Activate the detachment sequence. Enter the escape pod. I will be fine. Seal the first door and then the second port. Power on navigation and select autopilot. Press the red button at the top center that says emergency hail. It's okay I will be alright. Buckle your harness after you secure your parents and push the throttle forward. I love you and I am so proud of you, Nyota.
Spock sees a bright streak of fiery white arch across the atmosphere followed by Nyota's tear stricken face. Her lips are parted as she takes in a hiccuping breath. Her glassy eyes fastened onto his when she touches his face and feels her angst mirrored inside him. His face is emotionless but inside he is a storm.
Spock's eyes however are wide with recognition. He knows now what Nyota went through, why she would keep such an experience locked away inside her but he also saw something else. He draws her closer with hold he has on her face and she swallows as his emotions cross between him. When he kisses her Spock doesn't say the revelation he has aloud but he knows she feels it, knows that he believes her to be the most strikingly beautiful person he has ever known.
To inspiration such greatness in others he fashioned the latest Kobayashi Maru exercise with her in mind. It's not until much later that she even begins to see why and how much offense he has taken at Kirk's attempts to cheat the test. It was in her honor. It was to make others...feel the poignancy of a no win scenario.
They laid side by side panting up at the ceiling. Nyota sighs and Spock's eyes flutter open. His hand is still on her face coiling their minds together as they basked in the afterglow. He now has a fairly good understanding as to why Nyota had wished to perform such an activity. The experience was far from disagreeable.
She licked her lips and started to speak. " That was-"
" -exceptional?" he offered, turning his head on the pillow to look at her.
" Yes…" she smirked with a pleased hum. He felt her mirth from his assessment tickle at his side. He wanted to kiss her so he did, folding two of the fingers he had on her face against his palm while running the other two digits down along her cheek.
She shivered at the motion as the sensation makes her her breath hitch and pupils dilate further. At her reaction Spock felt the urge to do it again.
" That thing where you-"
Her mind finishes the thought with the action in mind before her words and he answers Nyota aloud. " -yes. It was-"
"- awesome..." she sighed against his wrist. Her hair was loose and wild around her face and the hunger look she gives him make Spock picture a tigress. Both females are strong, willful and beautiful and he finds the comparison not out of line.
She caught the thought before he was able to recall it and giggled with a mock growl. He sniffed at her very human sense of humor but she pulled at his amusement nonetheless. He cannot help but feel kindred to her. Perhaps this is what people define as being soul mated?
" Soul mates and yes I feel the same way." she murmurs through her smiling mouth as she tosses the hair of his bang. " I'm so glad that 'we' are. I don't know if that makes sense."
Spock closed his eyes and sees the concepts she has behind her words. There's the recollection of their first date, her anxious giddiness as he asks her to attend him while on their second, his begrudging acceptance to share a dessert even though it's unsanitary and his jealousy possessive of ice cream prevents him from relaxing enough to enjoy it, their time volunteering at the golden gate bridge animal shelter where they learn that he is allergic to dogs but as a consolation of sorts has an immense love of cats.
Memory after memory flipped before him like pages from a pre-war book and he greedily devoured them and their partnered emotions like a leech. They have no true taste but there is a sticky sweetness to them like honey in his mind.
They sigh in unison as he withdraws himself carefully away. " Yes. Soulmates. And perhaps one day bondmates."
He feels Nyota's shocked surprise at his words though she doesn't seem upset by the news. " Why does this information come as a surprise? Vulcans do not date. I would not have commenced courting you if I did not see bonding with you as a probable outcome."
" No, I mean, I guess I'm just surprised...flattered really that you would settle for me."
" I would not consider it 'settling', Nyota. I want you."
At the accompanying feeling of his words she inhales sharply and Spock is pleased that she has felt his conviction. She wipes at her faces awkwardly, trying hard not to smudge her mascara and kohl as she dabs under her eyes with a single crooked finger. " I want you too."
A part of his mind latches tightly to the proclamation and he finds himself extremely contented. Content with the moment, content with her and for the first time in a long time content with himself.
Nyota rolls her body towards him and snuggles up beside him. " So I have a question. Will us being physically-"
" -yes?"
" Will it always be so...?"
" I believe the word you used was awesome."
She chuckles but nods her head. Her fingers are tangling themselves in the hair trailing down his torso and he mirrors the shiver that she did when he performed the ozh'esta across her face. " Yeah so...would it be?"
Spock hums in consideration as he pulls her closer. " There is insufficient data to draw a conclusion. I am amenable however to experimentation. Care to form a hypothesis to which we can build a control?"