PSL - To Boldly Go To One's Own Future

[brotherthine]

Mycroft had woken up at his usual hour to go through his morning exercise routine - five miles running, some free weights, and then a shower and a choice of suits. He wasn't entirely sure why he felt the need to dress as if today was going to need a particularly good blending sort of armor - but there he was. Dressing in his favorite tan tweed, with the blue silk tie and handkerchief. Dressed as if to fade in, make himself seem like he was just a ghost in the background.

The spectre at the feast, hah.

He rapped on Jim's door, but hearing nothing, made his way downstairs.

Where he found the man, curled up on the sofa with the oddest contraption he'd ever seen in his life. Both eyebrows raising, he pitched his voice, just so.

"Good morning. Coffee?"

Comments

[brotherthine]

Yes, Mycroft has a very good idea that Jim probably ignores most lectures. Which was why Jim gets himself into so many scrapes.

"Both, I would imagine. I would never allow for such a thing in a government vehicle and I very much doubt you would want to give me one to begin with." He answered dryly, as he took up his paper again.

[james_kirk]

In his defense, Jim also gets out of those scrapes, or he wouldn't be sitting here right now.

He licks at his lower lip, slowly, and he damn well knows he's doing it, too. "You're making assumptions."

[brotherthine]

In his defense, one's luck did not exist forever. Which he should also know.

Mycroft catches that little motion, and that time, he's positive that's on purpose. He wets his own lips, clearing his own throat as he puts his gaze firmly on the paper. "Perhaps. However, I believe that we have drastically different ideas of sexual intimacy."

[james_kirk]

"Yeah?" Jim asks, interested, and he folds one leg over the other, in his best 'do enlighten me' pose. "You're gonna have to elaborate on that."

[brotherthine]

Oh, they were going to have this conversation? Delightful. "You flirt with anything and anyone who shows you the vaguest sense of interest. I would assume you probably sleep with half of them, in varieties of men, women, one or twos. Maybe sometimes threes. You are sexually open, and enjoy it." Mycroft did not look up from the paper. "I, on the other hand, only indulge when physical needs require it, and I never sleep with anyone I am sexually attracted to, just those who are sexually attracted to me. That gives me power over the encounter, and thus the ability to cut it off with no losses. If I am sexually attracted to someone ... I know myself, Jim. It would not be casual."

[james_kirk]

"You're a complicated sort of guy," Jim muses, but it's not a negative comment. "Would it surprise you to know that I was monogamous for nearly three years?" He smiles at that, mainly because almost nobody believes him when he says it. Somebody tamed Jim for that long? Impossible.

[brotherthine]

They really were going to have all aspects of this conversation. Marvelous. Right, well. Mycroft folded up the paper, put it across his well-dressed knee and turned to give Jim his full-on attention. Which meant he was fully analyzing everything Jim was saying.

"Yes. I am rather complicated. I like it that way." He mused on that, "And ... no. I also know you to be a good person. If you found another person that you trusted that deeply, you would seek a more permanent relationship. But it probably got too intimate for you, too close. I would assume parental abandonment issues, quite honestly. However, if you want to know why I am not sexually pursuing you, when I obviously find you attractive, charming, and intelligent?"

He smiled, oh-so-politely, "That you would have a very good time, and then you would disappear into the future. Forever. That does not do much for any future relations, now does it?"

[james_kirk]

Jim outright laughs at Mycroft's assessment and there's definitely a twinkle in his eye. "I was ready to marry the guy and then I got sucked back into my own dimension. It sort of put a damper on things. So, yeah. I know the feeling and I'm not gonna inflict it on you. Don't worry about that." He's not even going to get into his issues with his parents, though. Jim's only family is his crew.

He finally tears his gaze away so he can stare out the window. "It really sucked, truth be told. Doesn't mean we can't be friends, though, for a short time. Sometimes, it only takes a day to change a life."

[brotherthine]

Mycroft's eyebrows rose together at that statement, falling silent for a moment. He looked down at his hands, at the golden ring around his finger, before he looked back up at Jim. "I do apologize, Jim. I am afraid I was rather offensive. I did not mean to trivialize your relationship with your former lover. Is there no way to get back to him?"

[james_kirk]

When he turns to look back at Mycroft, he somehow keeps the tinge of sadness out of his smile. "See? You're getting the hang of calling me 'Jim'." He flicks his hand as if clearing the air. "Don't worry about it. I'm not offended."

That same hand comes up to rub at the back of his neck, scratching through the short hairs there. "I'm working on it. It's been four years and I think I'm almost there. My tour will be done in another year and then I can finish it up and get back to him." Though, there would be no guarantees. One slight miscalculation could put Jim literally anywhere in any dimension and in any time.

[brotherthine]

Mycroft's lips twisted wryly, before he answered smoothly, "Practice makes perfect."

He nodded his head slowly, before he spoke with clear and quiet honesty, "He is a lucky man. I wish you all the best." He would not voice cynicism, after all, although four years was a long time to wait for anyone. However, love had never treated him kindly. It did not mean it would do the same to Jim.

[james_kirk]

"Thank you, Mycroft. That actually does mean a lot. I'm glad I've got somebody rooting for me. Maybe it'll make all the difference." Jim, the eternal optimist. He refuses to give up hope that he'll get back to his boyfriend one day. He can't just give up on the best thing to happen to him, can he?

[brotherthine]

Mycroft tilted his head in silent acknowledgement, before he tipped his head. Curiosity, always had the better of the Holmes boys. "If I could be so bold to ask ... do you think you are never going to see him again? Because your sexual encounters led me to believe ... that you would be open to other things with other people."

[james_kirk]

"Oh, I'll see him again if it's the last thing I do, but it's kinda hard to not have sex for five years. I know John would understand. As long as I don't have sex with Bones, I'm pretty sure anybody else would be fair play. Not that I'm planning on having sex with Bones." Jim shrugs. He doesn't figure it's a big deal. Nobody in their right mind would expect Jim Kirk to be abstinent for that length of time, and for Jim, there's a huge difference between casual sex with a stranger and intimate sex with his lover.

[brotherthine]

"Ah-hah ... ah, why can you not have sexual relations with this 'Bones' person?" Mycroft waved his hand. "Not that you are planning on having sex with him, naturally. Just color me ... curious."

[james_kirk]

"Because he looks a lot like John." Which, admittedly, makes things difficult at times. It's a constant reminder of what Jim doesn't have. "They didn't get along great, despite the similarity."

[brotherthine]

"I see ...so because they look alike, that would be more of a betrayal then just sleeping with someone to 'take care of that itch'." Mycroft hummed softly, before he tilted his head, curious. "Now, why would you want to sleep with me, when I am nothing like your John?"

[james_kirk]

Jim rolls his shoulders. "You're very intelligent and you look good in that blue." Jim gestures at the neckpiece. "Or maybe I don't want anyone who's like John?"

[brotherthine]

"Ah yes, the story of my life... I am intelligent, I look good in blue, and I am nothing like the love of your life." Mycroft smirked, but there was no edge to it, no acid. "I am aware of the first, flattered by the second, and as you can see, clearly amused by the third."

[james_kirk]

Jim gives Mycroft a lopsided smile in response. "You're not entirely unlike him. I'm less like him than you are. John was... amazingly smart, shy, selfless, and not a fan of PDA. He loved geology, was great with kids, and would die to save somebody else in a heartbeat, so it's probably a good thing he's practically immortal."

[brotherthine]

Mycroft's eyebrows rose together, before he said wryly, "Well, at least we have a few things in common." They actually did, which surprised him. Although he was not 'great with kids', at least not in a way that made sense to other adults. He spoke to them like they had a possibility of being smarter than their parents, and they often were.

However, the selfless acts of self sacrifice were something that he was well familiar with.

[james_kirk]

"Yeah. I can tell," Jim replies with a small, fond smile. "You're way more proper than he is, though. He uses 'fuck' like it's going out of style."

[brotherthine]

"Dear me. I am sure he must know every way to say it." Mycroft's lips twitched up at the corners.