Chapter 42 - Wet

In Spock's sleeping mind, Kirk stepped close, right into Spock's bodily space. His hands slid over Spock's bare arms, mesmerizingly slow, up and down. Possessive. His cool human touch left behind wet streaks on Spock's skin. The rivulets taunted him, stimulated but not nearly enough.

He woke with his body reacting to the dream, reacting but not enough. Spock calmed his breathing and despite how much it brought Kirk to the present, pushed the spare robe carrying his scent aside. He better arranged himself on the bunk and lowered his mind into meditation. One tedious step at a time, he put his body into retreat. This achieved, he entered formal meditation and remained that way, awake and present in an empty room, body more bereft than relieved.

The commercial base on Niomtom VII was an oasis of thrown together structures in the middle of a flat sheet of scoured rock that stretched to the horizon. It predated the Colony War, but had grown twentyfold due to military traffic.

Lt. Uirik found Kirk as he checked into a pod room. She kept her voice low. "Wanna share a berth?"

"Sorry. No." Kirk's body emphatically answered the opposite to his words. He disregarded it.

Her eyes went distant. "Oh."

Kirk took the chipkey from the automat and hooked it on a tether on his jacket. "Look. Sorry if I led you on. I didn't mind the camaraderie. But it has to stay just camaraderie." That came out pretty well.

Her thin mouth stretched thinner, then pinched. "You like screwing with your people this way?" Her face reddened.

Kirk shook his head, stayed calm, forced lightheartedness. "We're sort of off the clock. But that's still out of line. Look. I clearly messed up not dissuading you immediately. I take full blame for that, okay?"

Her shoulders fell. She blinked rapidly. "Thanks. I just made an ass of myself."

"No. It was a fair offer given my behavior." His own need for physical contact had been part of the problem but he didn't want to say that. "I'm still new to switching out people so often. I said it was my fault. I don't know how to be comfortable with my people on a term basis. I'm used to having more time."

She tilted her head side to side. "Okay. Fine. I get it. I'll get my own berth."

He wanted to say he didn't expect she'd lack for company if she went looking for it, but worried that could backfire. He stepped aside so she could use the automat.

Kirk climbed up an exterior metal stairs to get to his pod. It was barely high enough to stand up in, but it was bot-cleaned and spotless since it had to make Starfleet specs or lose Federation ship traffic. Kirk pulled out his padd, pulled up the universe clock, dreading that his estimate may be off and Spock was in class. It was oh three hundred thirteen Earth HQ time. Kirk's body heated up starting from his low mid-section. He shed his jacket while requesting a connection to earth and Spock's transmitter ID.

It took more than five minutes for the connection to be arranged through channels, for the encryption he'd requested to negotiate through so many relays. Kirk glanced at the end-to-end status, considered stripping, but wasn't 100% certain Spock wouldn't be finishing up a project with others around.

Spock's image came on screen, mussed hair limned by the reading lamp to the side of him, face in stark shadow.

"James." He sounded breathless and distant.

"Hi." Kirk managed to keep his smile banked, his concern fronted. "It's really good to see you."

"You are unharmed?"

"Yes." Kirk shrugged one shoulder. "Bruised all over. No major damage."

"I am pleased." Spock was still breathless.

They both waited.

Kirk bit his lips. "I need something. Do you mind?"

Spock swallowed visibly, eyes darted to the side. "I need something as well."

Kirk gave a growl of anticipation. He put the padd on the monitor arm clip on the wall above the bunk and tugged off his shirt.

Spock held firm to the sides of his largest personal padd. The screen projected a partial third dimension and in that glowing image he saw Kirk slide his shirt off, revealing a far bulkier body than before, more triangular, and surfaced by myriad small muscles just below his skin. Spock became lost in that image, separated from himself there in his dorm.

Kirk tossed his shirt aside, reached toward the padd to adjust the angle of it, then rested back on a cushion. His chest muscles stood up, even against gravity. He put one hand over his head, which accentuated his transformation.

"Can I see more of you?" Kirk asked, quiet and sultry.

Spock reached down to the tie on his robes. Once a week he attended basic combat, and in between, intermittent drills that were no physical effort for a Vulcan. He had done nothing extra in the way of improving his physique. He would have to change that, regretted not even considering it sooner.

The sounds of appreciation from Kirk warmed Spock against all logic, melted the disciplines he'd been perfecting. If he had Kirk, he needed less control, oddly, illogically.

"I miss you," Kirk whispered.

Spock stood to put his robe on a hook. He propped his padd on a built in stand at the bedside, estimated the best angle for it and sat before it, one leg out, the other bent.

"Remember I said I might get more aggressive once things got crazy?" Kirk's eyes were glittering more than usual.

"I recall."

Kirk's tongue darted over his lips. "Good."

Author's Note: This is short because it got pretty heavily edited to fit the rating. You can find the full version on AO3 or KSarchive