Out Of The Chair: Spock/Kirk

Spock’s POV
After thirteen days of giving me my space, Kirk decided to breach the topic of Nyota’s death. It happened like this:
“Uh, can you cry?”
I stopped walking and looked at him, causing him to stop too.
“Can I cry?”
“Yeah, like tears and stuff?”
“I. . .” I searched for an answer.
“It’s just that you didn’t cry at her funeral and I kinda thought you might. So then I thought maybe since you’re half Vulcan, you can’t cry. . .” He appeared distressed about asking me this. I sighed.
“Yes, I have the ability to cry.”
“Do you? I mean, do you cry?”
“I feel this is a conversation we should not be having while on our shift.”
“Will you answer during our free time?”
“I suppose. We can play chess.”
“Sure. Sure. I’ve been craving a Slusho the last few days. I can’t wait to get back to Earth in two months.”
“I see you are trying to change the topic of conversation. There is no need, we can stop talking,” I said and we entered the control room. I took my seat and stole a glance at Kirk leaning back in the captain chair. He exhaled and crossed his legs.
Kirk’s POV
Entering the common room, I wondered what Spock would say. Spock was like a complete foreign entity to me. We had gotten closer after the destruction of Vulcan, but it had only been two months since then. We were still learning a lot about each other. It didn’t help that we were at each other’s throats every other day. I wanted to know if he was grieving, if he’d cried over Uhura. I had. Not excessively, but she was my friend, a member of my ship. How could I not cry?
“Captain?” Spock interrupted my thoughts.
I murmured a “hm?” and joined him at a table. He was setting up the three-dimensional chess set. I let a few moves worth of silence pass. “So have you cried over Uhura?” I planned to say it gently, but it came out with blunt force. I felt a tinge of pain in my heart at his momentary loss of composure. His eyes had sadness at the edges, but he quickly recovered.
“Crying- Crying would be illogical. Crying will not make her alive again.” His face had its sharpness back. The edges that had softened for that small precious moment in time were as fearsome as ever.
“You know Spock, if you ever need someone, you can talk to me,” I said and Spock’s face remained the same. His hand tensed the slightest bit in surprise. No one else would notice something like that, but I often observed his reactions. His eyes would never widen and his mouth would never drop open, but he still expressed surprise.
“That’s a-” he hesitated for a split second. “-nice offer, but I do not have the need.” He moved his hand tentatively to my shoulder. “Kirk. Jim, I avoid emotions. They are unnecessary in my life. They disrupt judgment and-”
“Your move,” I interrupted so we wouldn’t have to continue a conversation about Spock’s lack of emotion. He removed his hand from my shoulder and moved his knight.
At the end of our free time, we walked back through multiple hallways and ended up back in the control room.
“Love. Love is magical.” Pavel stared at a picture in his wallet. He ran a finger over the picture before letting out a sigh.
“Sure, love is very magical,” I said, waiting for someone to take over my shift. I had not slept for 21 hours. I needed the 3 hours of sleep that my bed was hoping to have me for.
“I am pretty sure that is not the kind of love Chekov had intended,” Spock observed stiffly.
“Yeah? What exact kind of love do you think I meant?”
“Well, physical I figure. You have not experienced emotional love in a romantic sense.”
“How do you know that I’ve never been in love?” I asked. He raised an eyebrow the slightest bit, his stomach noticeably tensing. My being in love seemed to get a rise out of him. I reveled in it. Putting a hand to his pointed ear I said, “What, are you jealous?”
“Of course I am not,” he said quickly, but I could see the hint of terror there.
“It’s okay Spock. I love you more,” I teased. His eyes penetrated my smile.
“Do not tease me Captain. I am just as intelligent as you and perhaps unlike you, attracted to women.” Pavel and Sulu laughed raucously at Spock’s witty remark. I didn’t find it quite as humorous.
“Yeah? Well-“ I cut off my own words with a punch at Spock. He caught my hand before it hit his face. “What? You afraid your pretty little face is gonna get messed up?”
“Jim. Dear, innocent Jim. I fear that you’re the one in trouble here,” Spock said, his ear twitching. He held my fist, his body completely still. Abruptly, he brought his hand to my neck and my world went black.