Yay an update! Once again, you guys are freaking awesome!

Warnings for this are established relationship in all three, and in the second it gets a bit naughty, but nothing too bad. I hope you guys enjoy this week's, and I'll try to get back into the swing of updating more often, although I am attempting another fic, so we'll see what happens...

63

Improvement

an act of improving or the state of being improved; a change or addition by which a thing is improved

"You know what?"

Spock turned his head slightly, raising an eyebrow as his bedmate didn't elaborate on the statement. He waited a moment more, and then spoke lightly. "I do not, Jim. Perhaps you would elaborate on what exactly you believe I should know?"

Jim chuckled faintly, more a huff of air than an actual laugh. He shifted where he was draped across Spock's chest, folding his arms and resting his chin on his wrists so the two of them could face each other. Spock's hand drifted from where it had been on Jim's thigh to settle against the small of his back.

"I think that this is an improvement." Jim stated with a grin on his face, a glint in his blue eyes as he watched the eyebrow climb once more.

"And what would 'this' be?" Spock asked, his fingers stroking slightly along the ridges of Jim's spine.

Jim shifted against the Vulcan in response. "Just this. It's a hell of an improvement over how you used to be, all stuffy and Vulcan all the time."

Spock couldn't help the amusement that fluttered through him. "It is difficult for me to not be what I am, Jim. I do believe that I am still Vulcan at the current time."

A puff of air escaped Jim's lips, a lopsided grin on his full lips. "You don't act like it as much now. You would never have been this touchy a month ago. And you're a lot more emotional now than you were when you first came onto the Enterprise."

"I would not have been this 'touchy,' as you put it, a month ago because I was not in a relationship with you at that time." Spock replied with a slight lift of both eyebrows, a gesture that Jim had learned to associate with Spock's 'how could you not have seen that logical conclusion' look. "As for my being more emotional, I do not believe that this is true."

Now it was Jim's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Really? You actually make jokes now, have you noticed that?"

"If you would recall, I attempted a humorous statement when I presented my candidacy as First Officer."

Jim waved a hand. "That one didn't count. I mean like now. I can tell that you're a lot more relaxed around me now, and not just me, the whole crew. You let little things slip now, things that you were a lot more uptight about before."

Spock blinked. "What things am I revealing? Perhaps I have been lax in my meditation practices and should rectify this issue."

Even though Spock said these words, Jim could see the faint sparkle of mirth in his Vulcan's eyes, and so a smile crossed his lips as he responded nevertheless. "I've just started noticing things. Like how when you think something is funny your shoulders relax and your eyebrows go up just a little bit. Or when you're upset or tense your whole body gets really tight and you have this sort of frowny face."

Jim attempted to demonstrate, but he only succeeded in make the corners of Spock's lips lift slightly in amusement. As that happened Jim grinned in delight. "And that! You would never have done that!"

Spock raised an eyebrow, at which Jim snorted faintly in amusement before shifting his arms so he could lay his cheek against Spock's lightly haired chest. He heaved a sigh of content, an emotion that Spock felt swirling beneath his skin. "I believe that I was depriving myself needlessly of one thing." Spock murmured after a moment.

A shift against his chest and Jim's brilliant blue eyes met his. "Oh?"

Slim Vulcan hands slid across bronze Human skin, eliciting a faint rumble of pleasure from Jim's throat. "I was 'missing out' on you, ashayam."

Jim chuckled deep in his throat. "Oh yea. You being with me is a definite improvement on the former situation."

"I find that I concur with that statement." Spock murmured before he brought their lips together.

This was the word given to me by Kobato00, who was my 300th reviewer! I hope you guys like it as much as I do! :D

64

Lick

to pass the tongue over the surface of, as to moisten, taste, or eat; to pass or play lightly over

Spock found that Jim loved to drive him to the edge of his control.

It was something that started basically as soon as they met each other, and continued from there on into the days of their bonding. Spock had a feeling that Jim would never stop finding new ways to push him, and a part of him looked forward to that.

One of Jim's favorite things to explore was the sensitivity of Spock's skin. While it was mostly his fingers that were exceedingly sensitive, Vulcan skin had more receptors than Human skin. Jim found it endlessly entertaining to find all of Spock's sensitive spots, spending some of his nights running his hands across the pale skin, a faint smile on his face.

Even with all of the other places that he had found, Jim's favorite remained the Vulcan's slender fingers. Ever since Jim had discovered the fact that Vulcans kissed with their fingertips, he had taken great care in paying extra attention to those particular parts of his lover.

Spock would watch Jim with wide eyes, pupils dilated and lips parted as he breathed shakily, watching Jim's mouth move across his skin. Jim had quite a talented tongue when he put it to use, and he did so quite often when Spock's fingers were involved.

At the current moment, Spock was sitting at the desk in Jim's quarters, reading over the reports that he had requested from one of his science teams. Jim had been sprawled across his bed, reading through one of his antique books with careful hands, but it wasn't long before Spock heard him shift on the covers, rising to his feet.

Spock did his best to ignore his lover even as Jim wrapped his arms around the Vulcan's shoulders and pressed a few kisses along the side of his throat beneath his pointed ear. "Jim, perhaps this is not the time." Spock murmured, eyes still focused on the PADDs clustered in front of him.

"Can't those wait...?" Jim purred in his ear, his fingers traveling down Spock's arm before brushing over his knuckles. Spock allowed the blond to take his left hand away from the desk, still able to concentrate through the stimulation , but what Jim did next was more than slightly unexpected.

The Vulcan's first two fingers were the most sensitive, and so Jim paid special attention to those two, using long swipes of his tongue across the knuckles and pads. Spock flinched at the first touch of Jim's tongue, though he stayed focused through the warm wetness. Jim licked his way across the back of Spock's hand, and then down his fingers once again, pausing only a moment before sucking those first two fingers into his mouth.

That shocked Spock out of his reading, and with a shaky sigh placed down the PADD he was reading and turned his attention to his lover. "You will never let me complete my work in peace, will you t'hy'la?"

Jim only responded with a grin and pulled Spock out of the chair and towards the bed.

65

Tracing

the act of a person or thing that traces

Awakening to the touch of his mate was nothing new for Spock, though it was slightly unusual for it to be actively moving. As he was Vulcan, Spock didn't require as much sleep as Jim did, and so he often awoke before him. Jim was almost always touching Spock when he was sleeping; he would pass out draped across his mate, and spend most of his night cuddled up to Spock's side.

The Vulcan quietly enjoyed it immensely; not only did the touch of Jim's body feel wonderful and calm him greatly, but the heat that gathered between their bodies helped him to relax fully. He quite loved the feel of Jim's smooth skin against his own, though he would most likely never admit it.

This particular morning, however, Spock awoke as he felt the gentle touch of fingers across the arch of his brow. He awoke at the first touch, though he kept his eyes closed as those beloved fingers ran down his temple to trace the curves of his cheekbone before shifting to glide the back of cool fingers across his cheek.

Moist breath joined the feel of fingers across his pale skin, and then lips glided across his forehead. He felt the shift of weight on the mattress, and the loom of Jim's body across his before an elbow settled on the pillow on the other side of his head. Another kiss was pressed against the upswing on his eyebrow, and then to the side of his nose.

The fingers that had been gliding across his collarbone and throat moved up across his jaw and then the line of his ear before Jim slowly laid himself back down, laying his chest partially on Spock's and curling his left arm over Spock's shoulder and slipping his fingers beneath the Vulcan's neck.

Spock was still for a few more moments, and then he shifted his left arm where it was wrapped around Jim's waist, tightening his fingers where they rested on Jim's hip. Jim let out a content sigh at that touch, and then went still against him, his breathing starting to even out in sleep as his weight settled more heavily on his mate's chest.

With a faint smile, Spock was content to join Jim in sleep.