Work Text:
Five years could be a really long time. Five years in space had been long for Jim. But he had enjoyed it so much. Being among the stars, finding and exploring new planets, having his crew around. Having Spock around.
Five years on earth were so much longer. It had felt like an eternity. Especially without Spock.
Jim had been so happy for Spock when he had been promoted to captain, given his own ship and sent on his own five year mission. He had been happy and proud. Spock deserved the recognition. He had congratulated him, invited him to dinner to celebrate, spent every second possible with him before he left and had seen him off when Spock had boarded his ship to leave Jim behind. Jim had smiled through all of this. And then after Spock was away and Jim was back home, he had cried, he had cried desperately. For five years there had barely been a day he hadn't seen Spock at least briefly. And suddenly he was gone for five years.
But now he was coming back. The U.S.S Valerian was supposed to return today. To finish up the mission. Spock would return today. They had talked when it had been possible. When the Valerian had been close enough for subspace calls and when not they had messaged. But Jim hadn't asked if Spock wanted to stay, if he had been offered another mission and if he wanted to go on another mission. He could not ask Spock to stay with him. He was scared they would only be together for a couple of weeks before Spock would take off again.
Jim had taken a shuttle to Starbase 1 early in the morning, even though there was time before the Valerian would be arriving, but Jim needed to be there early, needed to make sure he wouldn't miss the arrival, if they arrived early. And maybe he was just a little bit nervous to finally see Spock again. He went to one of the cafés and got some breakfast, listening for an announcement finally announcing the arrival.
He was more dissecting his croissant instead of eating it, his plate was full of crumbs. At least he had drunken his coffee, but the caffeine only made him more jittery.
Jim jumped as the Starbase intercom made a noise.
"Arrival of the USS Valerian imminent," announced the computer voice. This meant the ship would enter space dock in about five minutes and it would probably take half an hour for everyone to leave the ship. And as was tradition, the captain would leave last. Jim still jumped up and left. He didn't bother eating any of the crumbs left on his plate. Instead he hurried to the space dock, where some people had started to assemble. Usually the family members of the crew came to welcome them back to earth. To Jim it felt like he was also welcoming a family member back.
There was a lot of excited chatter around him, families waiting for their loved ones, children who hadn't seen their parent in five years, among all this bustle Jim stood alone and quiet, eyes fixed on the door.
When the door finally opened and the first people started to file out, Jim felt his heart speeding up. He would finally be seeing Spock again in person after five years.
It felt like an endless stream of people was leaving the ship. And Jim was only waiting for one. Around him people hugged and yelled names and started to leave slowly.
Only a couple of stragglers were left, some groups who were taking longer to say hello. The stream of people got thinner. And finally. Finally, Spock emerged. And Jim's nervous system escalated. He hadn't had any clue how he would react to finally seeing Spock again, but apparently it was like a teenager in love. To be fair, he was in love.
Back on the Enterprise he had also been in love with Spock but seeing him every day had helped him not acting like a total idiot and also controlling his emotions. A wide grin was plastered onto his face as Spock walked off the ship. He was looking around, Jim had not told him he would be there and Jim wondered if Spock hoped for him to be here.
And then their eyes met and Spock smiled. Only just so slightly but it was still a smile. Jim felt his cheeks hurting from smiling, their eyes stayed locked now that they had found each other. Jim wanted to run to him, hug him and never let him go. But of course he wouldn't do that. Spock preferred minimal physical touch and they never had been the people to hug each other. Not that Jim didn't want to, but Spock wasn't a hugger. Or maybe vulcans at large weren't. And he certainly wouldn't embarrass Spock like this in front of his senior officers and the general public.
And finally Spock was in front of him. They stared at each other for a moment. Jim lifted his hand into an awkward ta'al.
"Hi," he said.
And then Spock hugged him.
Spock hugged him.
Jim froze for a moment.
It was awkward, Spock seemed a little stiff, but his arms were slung around Jim's neck and his cheek was pressed against Jim's cheek.
"Jim," Spock said softly.
Finally Jim was able to move and he wrapped his alarms around Spock's middle, pulling him closer.
"I missed you too," he said. And finally Spock relaxed in his arms. Jim closed his eyes for a moment, felt himself melt into the embrace and rested his chin on Spock's shoulder. This felt more like home then the apartment he had lived in for the past five years. He had spoken to Spock, sometimes seen him through video calls. But now he felt him and he could smell him. He hadn't really noticed the way he smelled back when they had been on the Enterprise, but now he did. It smelled familiar.
Spock loosened the hug and Jim immediately let go, not wanting to overstep in any way.
"What are you doing here?" Spock asked.
"I'm picking you up. I missed you and wanted to see you. Would you rather be alone until you settled in?" Jim felt himself rambling.
"No, I'm glad you're here. But I would like to continue on to my accommodations. If you like you may join me."
Of course, Jim wanted to join him and if Spock didn't want him to he would have said so clearly.
They walked to the shuttlebay together, their shoulders brushed and neither made any attempts to widen the space between them.
"So, tell me, how do you like being a captain?" Jim asked excitedly.
"I believe I told you this before. I never desired the captaincy. To you, command comes naturally, I myself have always been more of a scientist. Nevertheless, it was a valuable experience."
As they continued to walk Spock started to tell Jim of the last couple of weeks. They hadn't talked in a while so he hadn't heard about these yet.
When they had landed on earth, Jim did accompany Spock to his accommodations. It looked the same like the apartment Jim had moved in when he had returned to earth. Standard Starfleet short term living quarters for command officers. Either people would leave earth soon again or they would move into something more long term after a while. Which made Jim wonder, if Spock was planning to stay on earth or leave again. The flat had a bedroom, living room, kitchen and one bedroom.
Spock set his bag down next to the door to the bedroom. He didn't have a lot of belongings. Jim had been the same, when he had left the enterprise, you didn't have a lot of personal things on a starship. Over the past five years he had accumulated a variety of nick knacks and books.
"What are your plans now? Going back out?" Jim asked. His heart was pounding. He hoped Spock would stay here. But he was aware, even though Spock didn't seem like he wanted to go on another mission, he might want to go back to Vulcan.
"I have applied to a research position with the Academy. Strafleet has made it clear, they would prefer me in the captain's chair, but I have been accepted and will remain on Earth for now," he explained. Jim grinned. He leaned a little bit closer, they already sat so close together that he didn't need to move much before their shoulders touched and he felt that Spock was leaning towards him as well.
"I'm glad you're sticking around. I missed you here," he said.
"Jim," Spock said and turned his head to Jim, Jim turned his head as well and his breath caught, they were so close. And Spock suddenly moved his leg a little to so their legs were touching as well. "I'm staying because I wish to dedicate my time to research but I also stay because I don't want to be apart from you again." Jim felt Spock's breath on his face as he spoke.
And then there was a little touch at his pinky. His hand was resting on his leg, he looked down, to see Spock's hand close to his, the pinky stretched out to touch, he looked up again, into Spock's dark eyes and moved his hand to cover Spock's hand. Now Spock gasped. But he didn't pull back, instead he turned his hand around so their palms were lying on top of each other. The tension in the room must have been thick enough to cut.
"I have come to some conclusions regarding you and our relationship," Spock said. Spock's hand moved and he wrapped his fingers around Jim's hand.
"Considering, we're basically kissing right now, I think I have a pretty good understanding of what this might be," Jim replied.
"Are you feeling the same?" Spock asked. Hearing Spock actually mentioning feelings made Jim gasp just a tiny bit.
"Aren't you a touch telepath? Shouldn't you know?" he asked, teasing just a little bit.
"I didn't want to enter your mind without your permission."
"You always have my permission."
And Jim felt Spock entering his mind. It felt like a comforting presence.
"Do you feel this, Spock? Do you feel, how much I love you?"
"I do," Spock replied. He placed his free hand on Jim's face, his fingers loosely touching his psy points and he went deeper into Jim's mind. Jim closed his eyes and allowed him to explore freely.
"I'm so glad, you're staying, I missed you so much," he whispered.