At this point, Jim should know better.
He finds himself gazing almost adoringly at Spock, sitting in his quarters, losing another game of chess, annoyance written clearly on a usually impassive face. It'd be almost funny if it wasn't so thrilling; to be able to see this side of him, to be allowed to see these emotions that he would surely deny if mentioned.
And yet he found himself wanting more. Wanted to be able to reach out and touch, to call him schatz, to mean the sentiments and be understood in them. To love and be loved by someone who's already seen the worst sides of him and stayed by him anyway; to be accepted and desired and wanted in a way that friendship could simply never hope to provide for him. That is, of course, not to say that Bones made him feel unwanted, but for all their similarities Spock and Bones were so very different, and his interactions with them were different(even though he knew Bones first, practically annoyed him into friendship, just as he felt he did with Spock.)
And speaking of Bones, he was going to have such a field day teasing him about this next time they hung out. Jim could almost already hear him, telling him that he needed to either grow up and do something about it or quit moping that nothing's changing. And he knew that he would be right, that he couldn't complain about a situation that he had all power to change and simply didn't.
And yet he still found himself wondering if it would all be too fast, after having to push so hard to be anything remotely resembling friends, or if Spock would agree just to appease Jim, or if he would agree out of a sense of necessity, of duty to a senior officer.
He found he was so distracted that Spock almost won this game. He was starting to wonder what had Spock so distracted that he kept losing.
He was so lost in thought that when his comm beeped he almost launched himself into the ceiling of his quarters. Before he could even respond, Spock was excusing himself, stating that they'd pick up again tomorrow. Jim stared after him for a long moment, until his comm started beeping again.
"Kirk here." he said, mildly annoyed at himself for so openly longing, even in the privacy of his quarters.
"Hey Jim," Bones said on the other end of the line."You comin' down here, or am I comin' up there to force you to take a break?"
"I'm coming, I'm coming. You don't have to make a fuss. I was just playing chess with Spock."
He could almost hear the eyebrow raise in response.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way."
"Good man. I've got a bottle of that brandy you didn't see just waiting to be opened."
"You're lucky I like you, you know that Bones?"
"Get down here and stop stalling. Besides, you love my ass."
"What ass?"
"Bitch."