Kirk's curiosity was insatiable. After awhile he decided he'll just play it simple. There were enough situations to do that. They were always in action and he would often fall down, Spock would often offer his hand and Kirk would do polite thing, he would grab his elbow and get up. He'll just grab him by the hand and act like he did it accidentally. He's played innocent often enough, he should pull it off and he did. Only thing was that the outcome was rather unpredictable.

They were on the mission, there were fighting and at the end he found himself on the ground as Spock nerve pinched last attacker. He had that ability to calmly put down even most dangerous opponents. That left them alone in the cave and Captain decided it was a good moment for his experiment. As expected Spock approached him and offered his hand, Kirk did what he planned he grab hold of his palm but Spock didn't do what was expected, he didn't pull him up. In a second they hands locked their grip it was like circle was closed and they froze. Spock was staring right at him and Kirk didn't know is he angry or just upset, he didn't dare to break the silence. Feeling between their palms rose up like a flame burning through Kirk's skin like something is penetrating his mind. There was glimpse of something, something velvety like behind it all but it was like the contact was muffled, something was missing, the chocolate feeling from when Spock held his hand above Kirk's. But still it was an intense feeling that provoked desire in Kirk, sudden and hard to control desire.

Finally Spock pulled him up but still didn't let go, he just stared at Kirk, so Kirk waited. He wasn't in a hurry to let go of his hand, in fact he wasn't sure he could if he wanted to. It was like he was glued in place.

"Excuse me Captain" said Spock in a hoarse voice "this is why humans tend to respect Vulcan's avoiding of the contact, it makes human uncomfortable."

"I wouldn't say that exactly" said Kirk gently causing those eyebrows to frown in confusion.

"How could you call feeling of this intensity then, Vulcan's tend to avoid things that would provoke them to feel so strongly." Yet he still didn't let go of Kirk's hand, Kirk has found that he started to have difficulties with breathing, he wanted to loosen up his shirt.

"Well, Mr. Spock, we humans are notorious for liking some uncomfortable things just for the thrill of emotions." He said trying to keep his smile up resisting the urge to shift his fingers in attempt to gain some more skin to touch.

"Thrill of emotions?" Spock was even more baffled and that made Kirk chuckle, he just wanted to kiss that man sometimes, harmless affectionate kiss, it sure would confuse the hell out of him. "I do not understand. Emotions are something to be suffered, sustained if they can't be helped, what mostly they can, but to thrive to them is beyond logic. It seems like tremendous waste of time."

"We humans were never accused to be the most logical of all beings, or that we don't waste time. Sometimes life is all about things that aren't logical, or very useful, but are just fun and pleasant." Captain started to perspire but kept his other hand to his side resisting the urge to tug his collar to gain some air.

"Humans can be really confusing at times" admitted Spock and Kirk pondered what would happen is he would pull him closer, probably nothing, he was far stronger than Kirk, maybe if he got closer, but that was just wishful thinking, it was clear from his eyes he's not affected by contact as Kirk was. "Point of a life is to learn and to contribute to a world at your own ability; I see no other purpose to life than that."

"Really Spock?" Kirk's voice became a whisper. "Nothing else? Nothing for your own enjoyment?"

"Joy is superfluous, and it is and emotion, emotions doesn't serve any purpose, for any means they only cloud the mind disabling its ability to solve problems." Spock said flatly but for Kirk seemed that there is something behind the words, words weren't important, important was that the contact had provoked reaction in Spock too, the one he called a feeling, and that he didn't withdraw from the contact. It was a true play of the chicken; he waited for Kirk to withdraw to show his mastery upon his own body. Kirk smiled widely and was awarded with something almost uncertain behind dark eyes. Reaction was there however Spock masked it with words.

"No Spock" Kirk said quietly not able to remove passion from his voice but that wasn't important "this simple feeling" he squeezed his hand gently moving his fingers just a bit "is what's important, it is the purpose to live for; it gives life flavor and color."

Spock's eyes broke contact and fell to their joined hands. It was something almost like regret on his face; he looked exposed for a moment.

"No Captain" his voice sounded heavy and flat and paused as he released Kirk's hand but as he let go and withdrew his fingers traced a path along Kirk's palm brushing his fingers before breaking the contact, as the tips of their fingers touched Kirk felt slight shock go through his whole body and he was breathless for a moment. "Humans have that habit of entertaining emotions to mask real purpose of life, Vulcans do not tend to do that, we know our duties in this Universe." With that he turned away and went to join their party.

Kirk stood there just a moment longer composing himself and getting his breath back. He lifted his hand and looked at it. It looked ordinary but it felt tingling all around. Kirk closed his fist around the feeling and smiled slightly. He wasn't affected by Spock's words, he didn't believe them; neither had he believed that Spock is as unemotional as he tries to be. No, he was savoring his small victory and started to think what he could try to do next to get some grip on that feeling. Feeling was undoubtedly there, as it was now confirmed that it was at Spock's end felt too, but Kirk was explorer, for him it wasn't enough that the feeling was there, he had to know what it was exactly, and could he get more of it.


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