verification | ic contact.

[ The kisses to her hand and wrist are unexpected and ease her expression into a surprised fondness as she steps forward, idly carding her fingers through his short hair; the sheer contact itself is enlivening, foreign and rare as much as his mouth is soft and warm. A free hand rests against his tshirt, toying with it, and if the house wasn't occupied ... ]

I'm from New York. If anyone knocks on my door past nine, I'd be tempted to answer the door with a bat.

[ Half-joking but also true. Still, she misses her real home. ]

[He chuckles, and takes the opportunity to wrap both arms around her, kissing her cheek as he does, nosing her hair. So he's a bit touchy-feely, sue him.]

You hit me with a bat, you don't get any more strawberries. Just saying.

[ That makes her laugh, leaning into him and soaking up the free cuddles, a little ginger with her own before the heat of his neck calls to a nuzzling nose. The sensation of displacement is short-lived and not missed, learning how to stand with him suddenly right there after having planned a quiet evening alone. It feels like recalibrating herself. ]

I also happened to be worried about you, astonishingly. Not in a bat-toting way.

[ So says the kiss planted against his pulse, just under an ear. ]

[She's worried about him. You know, years later, that's still weird to hear. Bones kind of came into it grudgingly, he supposes, a survival mechanism that cropped up after some very aggressive befriending on Jim's behalf, and the rest of the crew-- well, they care, but mostly about him as a captain and not a man. A concept, construct, something like that. His command crew knows him better, but--

Either way. She's a civilian, and it's weird. Not enough for him to peel himself away from her by any means, but--]

Can you 'worry' about me from the bed? You're right, it's freezing. Who's in charge of the heat in this place?

[ It's weird to care about him so easily. Knowing he isn't telling her things about his captaincy because he's bound by his own world's rules doesn't go far in making her happy about the secrecy, it's Jim himself that causes her to fret just as easily as he makes her smile. He's honest despite that sort of thing.

Huffing, she rolls her eyes and tugs him over to the bed to settle down, determined to use him as a pillow in the low lamplight. ]

You are not as smooth as you think you are, for the record. Let me warm up too.

[ Because the second that bathrobe is off and despite the duvet, she's shivering. ]

[Well, lucky for her he runs a little hotter than a normal person now. And he's not actually cold, so-- he is definitely going to wrap his arms around her and rub gently at her back for friction's sake.]

I'm exactly as smooth as I think I am, sweetheart.

[Oops, he's definitely teasing. But his expression sobers up a moment later.]

Thanks. For-- [he lifts a hand long enough to accidentally throw the blanket back, whoops let him just fix that, shall he--] asking.

[ Glasses are folded out of the way on the bedside table, momentarily faced with a blurrier Jim than usual. To touch he's like a living radiator and she curls up against him mostly on instinct, pressing in from ankle to shoulder and stuffing an arm under a tshirt just to be more of an unrepentful leech about it. His fiddling with the covers doesn't go unnoticed, turning her head to let her lips graze his neck, a knee draping around a thigh to keep him safe in bed, far from anywhere else he might be tempted to go in his own head. ]

You'd ask me if I did the same. Besides, I have to make sure you're firing on all cylinders when your crew comes to pick you up.

[ That's right, she's like a Captain ... Checker. Spot-check. Hm. ]

It's like performing a service to the multiverse.

[That gets a laugh.]

Well I'm sure they'll appreciate your expert captain wrangling.

[Though they probably wouldn't be terribly surprised. His falling into the bed of a beautiful woman on a strange planet? Not unusual. Maybe his staying there for more than a few nights is, but that's just the result of being trapped here for over a month now.]

I think you'd really like them. Man, Chekov. He'd follow you around like a puppy.

Who's Chekov? And he can't do that, you've already claimed the position of Weird Hot Guy From Another Dimension.

[ Snorting, she tugs on his shirt and winds the soft cotton around her fingers. Out of sight under the duvet, her touches are fleeting and brief against his skin, sometimes a full palm running over his stomach and sometimes just nails. ]

[He shifts enough to drape his right leg across hers where she'd shuffled up close to him. Human pretzel competition, go.]

He's my navigator. Good-- [Hm, no, correction--] great kid. It's like having a younger brother. One of the youngest graduates of Starfleet ever. Just... one of those guys that's totally earnest about everything they do. Gives a hundred percent, gets excited about everything. Saved my life a few times.

[And then less pensively,]

And I don't follow you like a puppy. Maybe a tiger. ['Rawr']

Captain Tiger. A great nickname to get between the sheets, I admit.

[ Shaking against him with suppressed laughter, she hums and tangles up happily. It's very preferable to spending the night alone, otherwise. ]

You know, if it wasn't for Loki and, uh, probably inverting reality itself with an outside influence that doesn't belong, I'd hop over to your universe in a heartbeat. See what that's all about.

[ Not for Jim, although he'd be a massive plus as a friend, but for science reasons. Space exploration sounds infinitely more interesting than anything in her old life. ]

[Awh, see, this is why you're his favourite. He tickles lightly at her side, just for fun in response to that whole laughter thing.]

Who's to say you couldn't do it on a sabbatical? If we can get brought here without destroying the known fabric of the universe, odds are you'd be fine in my world. We already know that I'm not from your reality's future.

[ Squirming, she pinches him lightly back. Psh, stop. ]

Don't say that, it's so depressing to think about. [ For it, he'll get a nip on the neck too. ] Maybe you do. It's more likely we're all linked somehow than not, I just don't want us to try leaping through existence and not pop out the other end. I'd rather you didn't try and were safe back home.

[He mouths the word 'ow' with all due theatrics, and in answer she is definitely going to get pinned against the mattress with him straddling her hips, the duvet tented around them like some bizarre attempt at a pillow fort.

He does, however, lean down to kiss her, all at once slow and sensual, bracketing her head with his arms.]

Then I guess we better enjoy ourselves now, huh.

[But he's not really angling for sex - funny how he lost his taste for the constant, casual sort after everything with Khan - so instead he kisses her cheek and sort of settles beside her with a leg thrown over her hips.]

Doesn't mean I can't tell you about it, though. Anything you want to know?

[ Clapping a hand over her mouth when she yelps out a laugh after being pinned, she bites her lip and tries to stay quiet while shuddering with contained laughter, hands falling to his arms during the affectionate kiss. Verity combs her fingers through his hair and rubs it the wrong way up his neck, smoothing it down again as their lips part.

She turns her head and hooks an arm around his shoulders, letting him snuggle up against her for a change. ]

How long until I get to be a captain too?

[ LIE DETECTOR CAPTAIN, ahw yeah. ]

[Joke's on her this position happens to put him exactly on the level with her rack you bet he's going to use her as a pillow.]

Save the world, then we'll talk.

[He slips his hand up under her shirt, thumb resting in the hollow of her navel, his other fingers beneath the waistband of her pajama pants.]

[ Joke's on him, she knows. ]

You did not save the world. Did you? Did you seriously save the world, Jim? I can't even ask it with a straight face, that sounds crazy.

[ He'll feel her whole belly jumping with laughter, a hand slipping from from his hair to drag down her face. ]

Wow, and why is that so hard to believe, exactly?

[He curls his fingers lightly, just enough for her to feel his fingernails against his skin, and bites at her shirt. Which-- gets him a mouthful of shirt. In hindsight, not the best plan.]

I can't believe this. [ Thrilled by how ludicrously dramatic the statement is (and how true!), she slips her hand into his to shake it. ] If I'd saved the world I'd open every fucking conversation with that.

"Hello, yes, sir? My name's Verity and I'm the savior of the human race, can I buy you a drink?" Jim.

[ Might be kicking her heels under the blanket. It's just funny, okay!! And impressive, but ffs. ]

[He nuzzles up against her neck, twining their fingers together over her stomach. Her reaction is making him feel pleasantly warm - he tends not to lead with it because he is, in some respects, absolutely tired of public scrutiny much less the media circus that follows the thunderclap of every livewire lightning strike, but they're friends. This? Straight-up endearing.]

It wasn't just me. Couldn't've done it without my crew.

[ Her fingers squeeze his, bringing his hand up to kiss each one. ]

You know that's the most impressive, dramatic thing you could probably ever truthfully say, right?

[But they lost another planet. He knows better than to blame himself for Vulcan-- they did everything they could, they tried. But it wasn't enough.]

I think that'd probably be 'I saved the universe'. Which, for the record, haven't done. Yet.

[He curls his fingers as she kisses them, and then brushes them lightly through her hair.]

[ Stretching into the caresses through her hair, she relaxes like a rubber-band easing back into its shape and scoops up his chin to steal a kiss, slow and smiling and soft. ]

I wouldn't be surprised if you did, Jim.

[ Booping his nose with hers, she snickers again. ]

[He hmms faintly.]

We'll see, I guess.

[He steals another kiss, and then tugs at the hem of her shirt.]

Hey, take this off and roll over, will you? Got any lotion handy?

[Now that they're all warm in their blanket-bubble, it's time for a massage.]

He asked, in a girl's bedroom. [ Jim, please. ] Try the vanity, it should have some hand-cream.

[ Twisting around, she pulls her vest off easily and flops on her front, hugging a pillow as she reads his intent. ]

You'll make me fall asleep, I warn you now.

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