Cushion (Star Trek XI ficlet, PG-13 with warnings)

[browngirl]

Title: Cushion
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Rating: PG-13 with warnings
Pairing: Captain Jim Kirk / Dr. Leah McCoy
Summary/Prompt: The concept of safety in the Mirrorverse.
Content Advisory: Mirrorverse. Het, dubious consent, roughness.
Acknowledgements: Written for the issenterprise weekly discussion.
Disclaimer: This fanwork has been created for pleasure only and not for profit.



Jim realizes he's asleep, and jerks awake.

Opening his eyes -- no blindfold -- he does a quick, silent inventory. He's in his Earthside quarters, lights dimmed to 15%, the air smells well-scrubbed and moister than shipside; nothing's out of place, nothing's unusual except the woman underneath his arm. There's no voices, no alarm, just sounds of distant city nighttime filtering through the field-screened windows, vehicular traffic, the occasional shout or scream. Jim tenses all his muscles, limb by limb and group by group, his awareness tracking down his skin; everything's there, no numb spots, no injuries, no lingering haze from drugs or a stun.

Nothing's wrong, but there's no reason he should've fallen asleep.

Jim blinks -- no visual changes -- and lifts his hand slowly and carefully, in case something's been rigged on a motion sensor. But the room hasn't been disturbed in any way, they'd have to have been a fucking ninja to have gotten in in the first place, and he'd like to think he's no slouch himself.

He touches the knife under his pillow, just for reassurance, as he looks down at the satiny, pale back of the woman in his bed, set off by a purpled hickey on her nape. His new doctor, Leah McCoy, her dark hair a soft heavy tumble across the pillow, her face smooth without its waking scowl and her visible eye huge under its curved eyelid. She's got a sweet rack and a little cushion to her, she radiates warmth... and he fell asleep beside her.

Jim leans over her, glancing over her lax hands for any micro-injectors or peel-away films. From the moment he met her she's seemed frowny and harmless, but if she drugged him, he really will kill --

She pulls a slightly deeper breath and sighs in her sleep, and he finds his chest tensing towards a sympathetic yawn. He grins instead, exhaling through his nose, feeling... relaxed. Safe, even.

A dangerous thing to even think. Jim loops his arm around Leah again and squeezes firmly, noting the precise resilient plushness of her body, her reaction time as she grumps awake with, "... the Hell, ow... Captain?" She wriggles ineffectually in his hold, flailing so ridiculously it can't even be a put-on, and he eases off just enough to let her twist around and glare up at him, pushing her hair from her face, those honest eyes widening as the fear kicks in.

"Hey, Bones," Jim says, to annoy her; she arches up a dark feathery eyebrow, and both scared and grumpy look so good on her he leans down to kiss her, enjoying her muffled squawk of surprise. He really likes this one, he thinks, lips pressed to her soft stubborn mouth until she snorts delicately and lets him in. She's warm and comfy and lulls him to sleep, seemingly unintentionally; she's either an assassination attempt in disguise or his best prize since his ship, and both possibilities are awesomely tantalizing.

Comments

[savoytruffle.livejournal.com]

Nice one. It's interesting to see a different facet of what draws Kirk to Leah.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you. I had a lot of fun writing a bit about his viewpoint.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*beam* Thank you, brighteyes! And yeah, nu!Kirk has such an advantage on M!Kirk here, in being able to appreciate his Bones much better.

[lomedet.livejournal.com]

FROWNY AND HARMLESS. Of course that's why he likes her. Poor Leah.

I think I love you a lot for that.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*blush* Thank you. I went alllll the way back to their first meeting, and remixed it in my head, and that's what fell out.

*feels loved*
*basks*

[echoinautumn.livejournal.com]

I don't think that there's a better response to this than a quiet whimper. Every time we get a look into Jim's head, I feel unrighteous sympathy for him and who he could have become. How helpless Leah is in front of him, and that he trusts her, is a perfect observation after the last chapter of their lives you posted last week.

♥

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Eee, your comments always make me blush. Thank you. :)

[silveronthetree.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. Poor Jim - he doesn't have the luxury of simply waking up and snuggling. I love your descriptions of Leah especially this -

her dark hair a soft heavy tumble across the pillow, her face smooth without its waking scowl and her visible eye huge under its curved eyelid. She's got a sweet rack and a little cushion to her, she radiates warmth...

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

I have spent more time than I should a little time thinking about Karl Urban's broad solid frame and how it would translate into a female body, angles into curves, solidity into plushness. And I may have had a bit too much of fun writing about that. *grin*

Jim considers snuggling with Leah a lavish, almost unbelievable luxury. Leah is slightly annoyed at being a stuffed toy. *laugh*

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

He just doesn't know what to do with someone who's fundamentally good, does he?

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

He really doesn't -- and I am going to meditate upon this question when I write their upcoming showdown.

[brighteyed-jill.livejournal.com]

I liked his whole regimen of taking stock of his surroundings looking for a reason why he fell asleep. And Leah's sleepy reactions are kinda adorable. Sweet Mirror!verse fic? What is the world coming to?!

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*beam* Thank you! Your thoughtful Mirrorverse worldbuilding inspired me to do a bit of my own -- what would a Mirror badass think on waking from an unexpected nap?

It's kinda sweet, except to poor Leah.

[sail-aweigh.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome! Such a lovely look into Jim's psyche through his reactions to Leah. This bookends the last installment so well.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

*curtseys* Thank you, very much. :)

[weepingnaiad.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! I loved seeing Leah through Jim's eyes, but I think the saddest thing is that simply falling asleep is an unnatural thing to him. He's so wary all the time. No wonder he loves Leah; in his own twisted way, he needs her so much!

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

He really does need her, and/because he keeps smushing her to her limits, almost to but never quite to breaking. I've been thinking a lot recently about where that eventually takes her, because it's not to murder.