Fic: Desperate times call for desperate measures
Title: Desperate times call for desperate measures
Series: Comstock Kings
Betas: Many thanks to selinamoonfire lesserpanda and aquila_star
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 6,050
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/McCoy, Pike, Mia Colt and mentions of other canon ST characters
Warnings: Semi-public sexual situations, AU
Disclaimer: Not mine, dammit!
Summary: Leonard McCoy wasn’t sure which was more dangerous to his sanity. Sitting through a dinner with Pike and Jim Kirk or walking back to his house in the dark of the night in Virginia City with Jim Kirk? After this night, he still wasn’t sure
A/N: This is from a prompt for 7ofeleven who won my services at the help_pakistan community. She wanted a story in the Comstock Kings series and had a few other requirements including them being very desperate for sex but not able to do it. I tried to fit them in as best as possible, honey! (See I didn’t post up your prompt request even though it’s brilliant!)
It was lovely to get back to writing the boys in 1880’s Virgina City. Oh, and the mention of camels in here is historically accurate! This now ticks off another square on my au_abc bingo card.
Leonard handed over his hat and gloves to Mr. Pike’s young maid. Her pale red hair was neatly tied back and she had a figure that he knew Miss Gaila had admired on more than one occasion, but Miss Mia Colt endeavored to hide it under her maid’s outfit as best she could. It was a battle that she was sorely losing.
Leonard had long suspected that young Mia and Miss Gaila had an acquaintanceship. Miss Gaila most definitely had a spy within this household. In fact, there wasn’t a thing that went on in this town that she didn’t know about.
“Thank you, Mia,” Leonard said as she bowed her head toward him and then indicated the front parlor. He strode quickly across the hallway and entered the room.
“You’re late,” Christopher Pike said as Leonard entered the room.
Pike was seated in his wheeled chair so that he could look out one of the front windows. He had been made as comfortable as he could in the chair, there was a large cushion between his back and the cane of the chair.
“My apologies, sir,” Leonard bowed his head in a slightly mocking gesture to match his tone. “Next time I shall leave the miscreants to doctor themselves when ‘Slippery Jim’ doesn’t pay attention to the reports from some of his men. Also, the less said about the owner as well.”
Pike’s eye line moved quickly towards Leonard at his words. The gentleman might now be inhibited physically but Leonard knew that he retained his quick and agile mind.
“The ‘Stella’?” Pike asked.
“You expected somewhere else to be even more chaotic on a Wednesday evening?” Leonard responded as he walked over to the table where a decanter and glasses had been set out. Like many of the rooms in this house now, there was less furniture, repositioned so that Pike could easily move around. What pieces were left spoke eloquently of the man’s wealth. “That man needs to be shut down and run out of this town,” Leonard continued his grumble.
Pike laughed at Leonard as he moved his chair around the furniture. “You are still sore from your missing watch.”
“He is nothing but a charlatan, a light fingered thief, and one of the worst mine operators around. I still maintain that it was him that pilfered my watch,” Leonard stated as he poured out a finger of scotch for himself. He offered the decanter toward Pike.
“No thank you, doctor,” Pike declined his offer. “I have a nice wine waiting for us and I wish not to spoil the promise of that fine meal.”
“Heaven forfend we insult poor Cook’s ministrations,” Leonard agreed as he lifted his glass again in salute before taking another sip.
Pike’s lips quirked up in a wry smile. “She hears you say that and you may not get another invitation to sup here. I shall ensure that she is aware that you are the reason that dinner has had to be held back. She would not have blamed Captain Kirk anyway. The man has charmed her out of many of her delicacies, as I predicted he would.”
Leonard looked in surprise at Pike at the revelation that there would be another coming for dinner, one who Leonard thought was still out patrolling the roads with the sheriff.
As if the Fates were listening in to their conversation, a commotion from the hallway could be clearly heard within the front parlor, with a voice that Leonard was coming to recognize. The pair of them waited in silence for Jim to join them. In the manner that was seeming so natural to the man, Jim walked into the room and garnered their immediate attention.
“I apologize for my dirt, Lieutenant-Colonel, but I did not wish to keep Cook waiting,” Jim smiled as he brushed at the dirt that was trying it’s best to re-color his pants to a dirty brown. “Bones! I didn’t expect to find you here,” he said as he noticed Leonard standing in the room.
“Don’t you start with that title, I’ve told you before. Pike will do for now. You are the only ranking officer in this room,” Pike pointed a finger at Jim in what Leonard now knew as a regular disagreement between the pair of them.
“Does that mean you have to salute me?” Jim slyly asked as he walked to join Leonard. He slapped Leonard in a friendly greeting on the shoulder, but before he removed his hand, as Leonard expected him to do so, there was a definite caress to the movement down Leonard’s back. Jim settled his hand at the base of Leonard’s spine, quite content to remain touching Leonard.
Leonard shot a quick glare in Jim’s direction as his body reacted to the closeness of Jim’s presence and the slow slide of his palm. Jim was unrepentant and was not to be rushed in his touch. If Leonard wished it to stop, he knew he would have to step away from Jim and it would only raise questions in Pike’s mind as to why they did not now appear to get along.
“I salute those that deserve it, not youngsters that should know better. Now, come along and let’s see what Cook has prepared for dinner.” On that order, Pike moved his chair back around and headed toward the open far doorway and the dining room beyond.
Leonard stepped forward to follow, placing his drink on the table as he walked past it. He hissed in a breath and stopped in his tracks when he felt a hand gliding across his ass.
“Jim!” he accused sotto voce, shocked that Jim would attempt something so brazen while others were around.
Jim leaned in close to whisper something to him, his breath ghosting over the sensitive flesh of Leonard’s neck and ear before he spoke.
“If Pike had not summoned me as soon as we made it back to town, I would have come to see you first. You have me all betwixt and between and I sorely missed your glares these past weeks. Lucky for me you were already here. I missed your lips and your hands more, though, and I do love to see you all as neat as a pin. Makes it more fun to remove it all and leave you en deshabille.” On that final remark and with a brief, teasing flick of his tongue towards his ear Jim was striding off toward the dining room.
“Come along, Bones, don’t be tardy,” Jim announced airily as he reached the doorway.
“I’ll give you tardy,” Leonard glared at the back of Jim as he followed him in to dinner.
***
The dinner was one of the more trying that Leonard had ever attended, even considering he’d attended many a dinner with his wife and her family. Others had expressed the opinion that they would prefer to be in the midst of a full battle than to sit down to dinner with the Darnells.
The company was fine and interesting, as Pike always was. Cook had outdone herself in working her magic on the meal. The issue was all Jim, who was seated opposite him. Jim who spent as much time smiling at Pike and telling stories of the war and his men, as he did sending heated glances Leonard’s way when Pike was not looking. The ante had now been upped and he was bringing his feet into the game. Using the toe of his boot to rub up Leonard’s calf.
Leonard moved his legs further back under his chair, if Jim wanted to continue to try then he would have to slip under the table. Leonard quirked an eyebrow up mockingly toward Jim as he crossed his feet out of the reach of Jim.
Jim then had him swallowing reflexively with the look he directed Leonard’s way and the obscene way he used his tongue over his lips, while Pike was distracted by a discussion with his major-domo.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Jim said as he stood up from his chair.
Leonard watched him walk from the room and pause at the doorway. Jim glanced back over his shoulder and Leonard saw the sly smile spread across his face when he glanced toward where Pike was sitting. Leonard quickly glanced toward Pike to find him still in deep discussion with his servant and his chair turned away from the door. When Leonard looked back to Jim it was to see Jim palming his cock though his trousers and smiling even wider at Leonard. Jim then turned away and headed down the corridor. Leonard knew he was off to the water closet to deal with his inconvenient erection, while leaving Leonard hard as a tack and stuck at the dining table.
“If you will excuse me too,” Leonard said as he also stood up and placed his napkin on the table. Without a backwards glance, he quickly followed the same path that Jim took. He opened the door to the water closet to find Jim with his back to the door and cock obviously in hand.
Jim looked back over his shoulder in surprise. Leonard quickly shut the door behind him and crossed the small room to Jim.
“If I didn’t know better I would think you only had hair under that hat of yours,” Leonard complained in a hushed tone as he spun Jim around to face him. “You! You!” Leonard exclaimed, trying to keep his voice low; obviously frustrated and unable to fully express his complaints about Jim’s antics.
Jim silenced whatever Leonard was going to complain about by grabbing onto Leonard’s face with both his hands and kissing him roughly.
“Got you to follow me didn’t I?” Jim murmured around kisses as he took the opportunity to rub his stubbled cheek along the rough growth of Leonard’s own.
“Do you want us to both hang?” Leonard countered as he ran his hands down Jim’s back to grip at his firm ass through the fine, travel dirt stained trousers. Leonard knew he should have listened to his own warning but the temptation was just too hard to resist.
Jim moaned at the pressure between their bodies, all clothed except for his cock. He started rubbing that cock up against Leonard’s suit of clothes and Leonard was sure that he could feel the warmth of it. He wondered if the heat he could discern was comparable to the heat that the miners coped with each shift that they transverse down into the depths of the earth.
“Missed you,” Jim breathed out as he mouthed at Leonard’s neck, just above the high points of his collar.
“Jim,” Leonard groaned as he moved a hand between their bodies so that he could glide a fingertip down the length of Jim’s cock, feeling the heat.
Jim joined Leonard with another moan and showed exactly how he appreciated the touch on the exposed part of his body with the possessiveness he demonstrated in his kiss.
“Jim, hands on the door,” Leonard managed to get out as he grabbed onto Jim’s coat and dragged him back toward the door.
“Huh?” Jim blinked at him.
“Hands on the door,” Leonard ordered as he dropped down to his knees on the hard, polished wooden floor.
“Yes,” Jim breathed out as he helped Leonard move his trousers open more, before he did as Leonard ordered and put his hands on the door frame.
Leonard wasted no time on preliminaries, they had a limited time before a servant possibly became nosy and came searching for them. As soon as he had settled on his knees, he took Jim’s thick cock in hand and held it in the best position for his mouth to encircle over the head. The tangy taste of Jim was most welcome. Jim’s moans and breathy words of encouragement just had him working harder to bring Jim to completion. They had only been together a few times previous, but it was enough to whet both their appetites. It also meant that it wasn’t long before Jim’s desire for him got the better of him and Leonard’s warning was Jim gripping him hard on the shoulder. Jim made a keening sound from deep in his throat as he came hard. Leonard had a hard time trying to swallow all of Jim’s seed. A lot of it ended up spat out into his hand.
Jim was leaning heavily over the top of him, as his flushed and sated looking face was staring down at Leonard’s own problem that had not been attended to. The man had been teasing him from the moment he had walked into Pike’s house and even with the flush of satisfaction upon him, he was teasing still. Leonard pushed himself up and walked away from the smiling temptation of James T. Kirk, to wash his hands in the porcelain basin. He could hear Jim adjusting his clothing, doing the buttons up on his fly, from behind him.
He dried his hands on the soft towel and then jumped in shock as Jim pressed his body up close behind him and cupped his cock through his own wool trousers.
“You have taken care of me, now it’s your turn,” Jim whispered into his ear as his clever hands started to undo Leonard’s fly while also caressing his hard length.
“Jim, no. We will be missed,” Leonard groaned as he tried to bat Jim’s hands away.
“Hush, you. If you go back in that state, it won’t be missed either. Let me do this for you. I have wanted to get my hands on your cock for over a sennight. You have bewitched and betwixt me. I worried there that you were going to give me a lick and a promise, but no, you were as thorough as always,” Jim had his hands in Leonard’s unmentionables and was rubbing up and down his cock as best he could.
Leonard glared at Jim from where his head was resting on Jim’s shoulder when Jim declared that he was going to do a haphazard job, but a twist of his hand had Leonard groaning and reaching back to grab onto Jim’s coat and hold him in place.
“Over here,” Jim said as he motioned towards the chamber pot.
On unsteady feet, the pair of them moved quickly so that Leonard was standing over the chamber pot and Jim had opened Leonard’s trousers further that he could draw his cock out and aim it toward the pot.
“Can’t have you looking less than as neat as a pin as you normally are, can we?” Jim kept his voice low and intent as he worked both his hands up and down Leonard’s cock.
Leonard looked over his shoulder at Jim, his face so close that he was not as clear to Leonard’s view. He opened his mouth to speak Jim’s name again, but Jim swallowed his words with his lips and his tongue. He pushed and pulled. Tangled his tongue with Leonard’s as he kept a hard and punishing pace with his hands.
“How did I not know how this would be?” Jim said as be nibbled at Leonard’s lower lip. “Hard, smooth flesh. So responsive you are. Want nothing more than to make you shudder and want me again. Want to go home with you tonight. Want you to know that when we go back out there to finish dinner with Pike, that I will want you still. Already now you make me stir again. Feel like a green ‘un. What power you have, Leonard, ‘Bones’, doctor. Do you know it?”
“Yes,” Leonard cried as he felt the orgasm flow through him. Jim had to hold him up, as his legs started to give way such was the force that he was feeling. Jim had used words on him before, but never with this urgency. The man was not some simple solider, but a gentleman born. Words were his weapons just as much as the gun that normally sat on his hip.
“So help me, Jim, you will be the death of me one day,” Leonard said as he peered at Jim through heavy lidded eyes.
“La petite morte,” Jim whispered as he pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot just below Leonard’s ear.
Leonard let out a small huff of breath, a small laugh and a shake of the head was all that he was capable of at that time. His limbs all felt loose and heavy. Like he was falling into quicksand. That was what Jim was to him. Apparently harmless and benign but when you took a step in his direction he was deadly. Deadly to his sanity.
“You should go back, Pike will wonder what has become of us. Go charm him and I shall be along soon,” Leonard ordered.
Jim contemplated him for a moment, his expression serious as Leonard knew that he was weighing all the scenarios in his mind.
“Go,” Leonard said again as he pushed Jim gently away.
Jim nodded before he stepped up close and gave Leonard a gentle kiss upon his lips. “Know that I want you still,” he said before turning and exiting out the door.
Leonard leaned back over the chamber pot, staring that the result of their mutual passion. He picked it up and carefully poured the contents down the basin, using the pressurized water that had been installed by Pike’s Head Engineer, to wash away the evidence. He put the pot back in it’s place and proceeded to put himself away and his clothing to rights. He glanced down at the bowl and realized that the servants would come in to empty the pot and there might be talk about why the pot was empty and what had kept them in this room for so long. He swore under his breath as he undid his pants to again take out his cock and started to think of every instance of running water he had even witnessed in his life. It took him a while, but eventually he got the deed completed and once setting himself to rights he returned to the basin to splash cool water in his face, trying to cool down his still heated flesh. He wondered if he could plead an illness with Pike, his visage would more than likely have the man thinking there was truth to the lie. Although it was not fully a lie, his illness had a name.
James T. Kirk.
***
“And you're sure you don’t want to stay here tonight, Leonard?” Pike asked. “I can arrange for a room easily enough.”
“No, thank you, sir. It’s a small complaint, nothing too much to worry about. Please present my compliments to Cook and assure her that I had symptoms of the complaint a little before we went into dinner,” Leonard offered his hand to Pike to shake and so that he could take his leave.
As Pike took his offered hand, Jim added his voice to the discussion.
“I’ll look after him, sir. I’m sure the good doctor can find the right cure for his complaint when he is back in his house,” Jim said in his smooth, coaxing tones that Leonard had heard him use before.
“Virginia City and I are very glad to have him, make sure you get him home safely, Captain Kirk,” Pike ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Jim smartly snapped off a salute and then stepped out of reach of Pike quickly.
“How no one had you up on insubordination I will still never know,” Pike complained.
When Jim started to smirk a little at the complaint from Pike, Leonard knew it was time to leave. He headed for the door that was being held open by Miss Colt. “Come along, Jim, before Mr. Pike starts to list all the charges he himself could have brought you up on.”
Pike laughed, “Too true, doctor. We shall be here all night if I started on that list.”
Leonard nodded his thanks to Miss Colt and took his hat from her before he exited out the door and into the cool evening air. He heard Jim offering his own goodbyes and then his heavy footfalls on the solid stone stairs down to the road behind him. Leonard had paused at the base of the stairs, waiting for Jim with his back turned. He could well imagine the fine house behind him with it’s imposing entrance, high front with the tower above mirroring the rise of Mount Davidson behind it. It was a house fit for one of the Kings of the Comstock.
It was late into the evening but still there was bustle around that in another town in this country there would be almost silence. There was the incessant background noise of the mines working long into the night. They would never stop, and when Leonard had first arrived in town it took him a number of days to get used to the noise. It now faded into the background. An ever present reminder of why they were all here. There was also the noise from down C Street of the saloons still open and serving the miners who were just coming off shift and needing a libation or a gentle hand of pleasure. This was the city that truly never slept.
“Come along, doctor. I have my orders that I am to take you home,” Jim had slapped him on the shoulder when he came to stand next to him.
Leonard glanced over at Jim to see that he had put his hat on his head at a jaunty angle. It should have looked ridiculous, but this was Jim and his complete assurance in his own self made the ridiculous look sublime on him. He stepped away from Jim with a shake of his head and headed toward the shortest path that would take him to his house. The shortest and safest path that was.
Virginia City was a well to do town, a very well to do one. Leonard had come from one of the most prosperous cities in the South, but the wealth in Virginia City was unlike any he had ever seen before. His ‘luck’ in treating Pike had led to him being able to cash in on some of that wealth and also using some of the best advice of his life that he had received from his father as a young boy.
“Son, a chicken is only good for one Sunday Dinner, but get them a rooster and some cornfeed and you will have plenty of rewards for many a Sunday.”
Every day could be seen a crowd around the Bulletin’s as the Stocks were posted up. Every day it was almost the same crowd; shopkeepers, miners, gamblers, and the ladies of the town standing off to the side and sending young boys in to read the details and report back to them. Every day there were the same words said by most of the observers, “I’ll just hold onto them a little longer while they are still going up.” Many a times the next day those stocks went down and kept going down. The temptation was to hold onto them and make even more profit but Leonard was good at resisting temptation, when it wasn’t called James T. Kirk.
Leonard shook his head as he took in the calm, but alert visage of Jim as he walked next to him down one of the quietest streets in the city. Only the cream of the crop could afford a house along this street. B street was the address, which was why Leonard purchased a new row house on F street on the south eastern side of the city.
In companionable silence they crossed over the dusty street, thankful of no rains lately to send the street into a muddy quagmire. Leonard noted the group of men huddled together a little too casually on the other side of Union street, opposite Mayor Piper’s saloon.
“We should go to Maguire’s,” Jim announced as they walked down the side of Union Street, keeping out of the path of the pack mules and wagons still out at that late hour.
“Now?” Leonard asked in reply, raising one eyebrow.
Jim laughed, “No, but one night soon, we should go. Mitchell went the other week and I have to see these chandeliers for myself.”
“The performance doesn’t interest you? Just some crystal? They don’t have lights in San Francisco?” Leonard responded to Jim’s odd request as they paused at the junction while a mule wagon made it’s slow path down the busy C Street.
“What odd fancies you have,” Jim said in a good-natured manner as he leaned against the balcony column of the saloon.
All around was a cacophony of noise as men entered in and out of the saloon’s and clubs. Music and chatter could be heard from within those establishments. The hawkers were still abounding on the streets, trying to entice the residents of the city out of their hard earned with some miracle cure or others.
Leonard was jostled from behind, and before he could turn and see who had done so, Jim had pulled him out of the way and was standing at attention, bristling in anger.
“My apologies, sir. No harm done to the gentleman, we’ll just be on our way,” a rough voice said, obviously trying to placate Jim as he pulled his fellows quickly across the road. Leonard laid a hand on his arm to turn his attention away from the group of dirt encrusted miners. It was obvious that they had come up from the shafts and did not head to their lodgings to clean up prior to hitting as many establishments as they could in celebrating another day of survival.
“Jim, let’s go,” Leonard coaxed.
“Some people should watch where they are going,” Jim grumbled as he followed Leonard out onto the main road.
Leonard carefully picked his way across the street, stepping over the deep ruts in the road and avoiding the traffic. When he reached the other side of the street he stomped his feet on the wooden walkway, dislodging what dust he could.
“Always so neat, that’s my Bones,” Jim whispered as he joined him.
“Will you stop with that darned nickname?” Leonard complained as he walked away from Jim and headed alongside the saloon.
“No,” Jim happily replied.
Leonard just humphed in reply and kept to his path. They had walked in companionable silence for a period, crossing two more streets when Jim suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him down a small dark alley. Before Leonard could protest, Jim had him pushed up behind a pile of crates and his hand was covering Leonard’s mouth. Leonard’s eyes widened as he saw Jim remove his revolver from his holster and cock the gun. When he opened his mouth to speak, Jim quickly looked back at him and shook his head. Even in the dark of the night and in their hiding place, Jim’s eyes shone almost as clear as day. It was time to trust in Jim’s soldier instincts it seemed.
They waited in silence a piece; Jim alert with his head cocked toward the mouth of the alley and arm ready to raise at a moments notice. Leonard was pushed back to the wall, hands flat against roughened timber of the building behind them. Leonard mentally started to think of the area in bright daylight, which building it was that he was pressed to, Dehner’s Warehouse and Stores he realized.
Then there were voices, hushed but urgent and Jim tensed even further, his eyes narrowing as he waited for what Leonard did not know. He could feel Jim’s fingers press a little harder onto his face.
Solid steps on the packed earth and the quiet jingling of a set of spurs could be heard as someone walked into the alley. They paused the other side of the crates.
“C’mon, Finnegan, I’m sure I saw that fancy army officer head down this a-way,” a voice, with a strong lilt of the Irish to it, called from the direction of Union Street.
“He’ll get his,” Leonard heard mumbled from the man as he obviously turned and retreated toward his companions.
Leonard stayed still waiting for a sign from Jim that it was okay to relax. Footpads and miscreants were a common problem on the streets. Where there was the promise of a quick buck there was always those villains willing to steal to get it instead of earning it by more honest means.
Jim slowly removed his hand from Leonard’s mouth. Leonard noted that he was still tense, like a rattlesnake waiting to strike. He opened his mouth wide, testing his jaw movement after Jim’s strong grasp.
His movements obviously caught the attention of Jim, who turned his head to stare at Leonard. Jim’s lips were parted and his eye’s narrowed as their gaze roamed over his face and settled to stare at Leonard’s lips. Leonard stayed where he was, held immobile by Jim’s gaze. The intent look had him inhaling a deep breath and then holding it as Jim raised a hand and slowly moved it toward Leonard’s face.
“Did I hurt you?” Jim asked as he leaned forward. “Shall I kiss it better?”
“Jim-” Leonard breathed out as he leaned into Jim’s hand, encased in the fine but worn leather of his uniform gloves. There were softer patches of it where he obviously held the reins.
“Jim, yes? Or Jim, no?” Jim asked as he leaned forward to rub his cheek up against Leonard’s. His cheek was rough and abraded from long days under the sun. He also had obviously not shaved recently, maybe that morning at the latest, like Leonard.
Leonard gasped as Jim licked and mouthed a path back toward his mouth. Jim paused just as he reached the corner of his lips, where he whispered again his questions, “Jim, yes? Or Jim, no?”
Leonard turned his head, causing their noses to bump, but he did not care, he was kissing Jim again. He wrapped his arms around Jim, sliding one hand under his coat tails so he could pull Jim flush against him. Jim groaned as he nipped at Leonard’s bottom lip.
Leonard retaliated by pushing his hips forward. Leonard tilted his head back and closed his eyes as he concentrated on the delicious friction they were causing as they rubbed against each other.
Jim took advantage to press kisses to his throat. Deep, sucking kisses that had little nips at the end of each.
The unmistakable growl of a camel broke Leonard’s attention away from the pleasurable sensations that Jim was causing.
“Jim, stop!” Leonard cried brokenly as Jim continued to rut and rub up against him.
“Why? Why should I stop, Bones?” Jim mouthed into his neck, his hot breath tickling over the abrasive stubble of his skin.
Leonard pushed Jim away with all his might and caught his breath as Jim stood and glared at him. When Jim made a move to step back close to him, Leonard held up his hand to halt his momentum. “No, ‘tis too dangerous to begin with and I do not want to walk the final distance with my seed lining my pants,” Leonard told him.
“You would not be the only one with wet pants,” Jim countered. “Also, it is dark and no one else will be the wiser.”
“I’ll be the wiser and I prefer at this moment to keep my trousers dry, thank you kindly,” Leonard said as he stepped away from the wall on still slightly unsteady legs. Jim was still glaring at him. “We have tarried here long enough, I don’t intend to be the next mark for some ruffian. Plus that damn Frenchman is coming past with his pack of camels. What if he looks this way?”
“Fine,” Jim grudgingly agreed. “Luckily we are not far from your house, where once we cross that threshold you will be mine again.”
Leonard held Jim’s gaze for a moment, contemplating the audacity of the man.
“‘Tis my house and I am master within. Whose to say once you are inside that you will not be mine?” Leonard countered, waiting to see what Jim’s reaction would be.
It was a swift reaction, Jim grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the mouth of the alley. Leonard shook his head but moved his feet fast to keep up with the pace that Jim was setting as he dragged him down toward F Street. Jim was oblivious to the camel’s walking past, a regular sight in Virginia City after dark and guaranteed to turn a greenhorn’s head when they first saw them. To Jim, they were insignificant to his notice, his concerns were more immediate.
“Slow down you infant,” Leonard complained as Jim continued to pull insistently on his hand to make him walk faster. “Any faster and we will be running and I am sure my good neighbours don’t need the speculation that my house may be on fire!”
Jim grunted but, mercifully for Leonard’s lungs, he slowed down a bit. He walked up the wooden stairs and paused by Leonard’s front door, finally letting go of his hand.
As Leonard fished for his key in his vest pocket, Jim spoke. “Will Miss Chapel be coming to see you tomorrow?”
Leonard frowned as he paused to contemplate Jim’s strange question, then he realized the reason Jim was asking.
“She has gone into Carson City for a few days. She won’t be back until the weekend. I will be fending for myself for the next few days,” Leonard explained as he unlocked and pushed open the door, keeping his back to Jim as he did so.
“No local to come and help you out in this big house?” Jim asked.
“I can look after myself,” Leonard told him as he lit the lamp that he had placed on the side table before leaving the house earlier. The soft yellow glow illuminated his hallway with the stairs to the upper floor and the other doors on this level all closed, just as he had left them.
“Well, you see I think that is mighty fine news,” Jim declared as he leaned back against the now shut front door.
Leonard turned to frown again at Jim’s strange comment.
He watched as a slow smile spread across Jim’s face. He recognized the look in Jim’s eyes all to familiarly. He had seen it all through dinner.
“We are back for a little bit of leave for the next few days. What more could a man want than to spend time with a civilized gentleman?” As Jim asked the question he nodded toward Leonard before then stepping away from the door and advancing toward Leonard. “Now I think the good people’s of this town would be mighty relieved if you made sure that my uncouth, soldierly ways were tempered by your teachings in the way of proper behavior?”
“I highly doubt that you have spent the majority of your life in ‘proper behavior’,” Leonard countered, refusing to step back as Jim keep up a slow and steady pace toward him. “The only time you would, is when it suits your purpose.”
Jim had reached him and Leonard could see the sharp, startling blue of Jim’s eyes. Every time the man came near he braced himself for the power of those eyes and every time he was helpless.
“What would suit my purpose is to go upstairs with you, Bones. Can I spend the night?” Jim whispered into his ear, breath tickling as his question struck to the heart of Leonard and a desire he had tried to hide or even hide his hope for. To sleep with his man, to wake up to him beside him and have no one to disturb them as they took their time and pleasure in each other.
“Damn me to all seven Hells, yes please,” Leonard responded.
Once more Jim grabbed his hand and dragged him along, this time, Leonard went willingly up the stairs with him.
Series: Comstock Kings
Betas: Many thanks to selinamoonfire lesserpanda and aquila_star
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 6,050
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/McCoy, Pike, Mia Colt and mentions of other canon ST characters
Warnings: Semi-public sexual situations, AU
Disclaimer: Not mine, dammit!
Summary: Leonard McCoy wasn’t sure which was more dangerous to his sanity. Sitting through a dinner with Pike and Jim Kirk or walking back to his house in the dark of the night in Virginia City with Jim Kirk? After this night, he still wasn’t sure
A/N: This is from a prompt for 7ofeleven who won my services at the help_pakistan community. She wanted a story in the Comstock Kings series and had a few other requirements including them being very desperate for sex but not able to do it. I tried to fit them in as best as possible, honey! (See I didn’t post up your prompt request even though it’s brilliant!)
It was lovely to get back to writing the boys in 1880’s Virgina City. Oh, and the mention of camels in here is historically accurate! This now ticks off another square on my au_abc bingo card.
Leonard handed over his hat and gloves to Mr. Pike’s young maid. Her pale red hair was neatly tied back and she had a figure that he knew Miss Gaila had admired on more than one occasion, but Miss Mia Colt endeavored to hide it under her maid’s outfit as best she could. It was a battle that she was sorely losing.
Leonard had long suspected that young Mia and Miss Gaila had an acquaintanceship. Miss Gaila most definitely had a spy within this household. In fact, there wasn’t a thing that went on in this town that she didn’t know about.
“Thank you, Mia,” Leonard said as she bowed her head toward him and then indicated the front parlor. He strode quickly across the hallway and entered the room.
“You’re late,” Christopher Pike said as Leonard entered the room.
Pike was seated in his wheeled chair so that he could look out one of the front windows. He had been made as comfortable as he could in the chair, there was a large cushion between his back and the cane of the chair.
“My apologies, sir,” Leonard bowed his head in a slightly mocking gesture to match his tone. “Next time I shall leave the miscreants to doctor themselves when ‘Slippery Jim’ doesn’t pay attention to the reports from some of his men. Also, the less said about the owner as well.”
Pike’s eye line moved quickly towards Leonard at his words. The gentleman might now be inhibited physically but Leonard knew that he retained his quick and agile mind.
“The ‘Stella’?” Pike asked.
“You expected somewhere else to be even more chaotic on a Wednesday evening?” Leonard responded as he walked over to the table where a decanter and glasses had been set out. Like many of the rooms in this house now, there was less furniture, repositioned so that Pike could easily move around. What pieces were left spoke eloquently of the man’s wealth. “That man needs to be shut down and run out of this town,” Leonard continued his grumble.
Pike laughed at Leonard as he moved his chair around the furniture. “You are still sore from your missing watch.”
“He is nothing but a charlatan, a light fingered thief, and one of the worst mine operators around. I still maintain that it was him that pilfered my watch,” Leonard stated as he poured out a finger of scotch for himself. He offered the decanter toward Pike.
“No thank you, doctor,” Pike declined his offer. “I have a nice wine waiting for us and I wish not to spoil the promise of that fine meal.”
“Heaven forfend we insult poor Cook’s ministrations,” Leonard agreed as he lifted his glass again in salute before taking another sip.
Pike’s lips quirked up in a wry smile. “She hears you say that and you may not get another invitation to sup here. I shall ensure that she is aware that you are the reason that dinner has had to be held back. She would not have blamed Captain Kirk anyway. The man has charmed her out of many of her delicacies, as I predicted he would.”
Leonard looked in surprise at Pike at the revelation that there would be another coming for dinner, one who Leonard thought was still out patrolling the roads with the sheriff.
As if the Fates were listening in to their conversation, a commotion from the hallway could be clearly heard within the front parlor, with a voice that Leonard was coming to recognize. The pair of them waited in silence for Jim to join them. In the manner that was seeming so natural to the man, Jim walked into the room and garnered their immediate attention.
“I apologize for my dirt, Lieutenant-Colonel, but I did not wish to keep Cook waiting,” Jim smiled as he brushed at the dirt that was trying it’s best to re-color his pants to a dirty brown. “Bones! I didn’t expect to find you here,” he said as he noticed Leonard standing in the room.
“Don’t you start with that title, I’ve told you before. Pike will do for now. You are the only ranking officer in this room,” Pike pointed a finger at Jim in what Leonard now knew as a regular disagreement between the pair of them.
“Does that mean you have to salute me?” Jim slyly asked as he walked to join Leonard. He slapped Leonard in a friendly greeting on the shoulder, but before he removed his hand, as Leonard expected him to do so, there was a definite caress to the movement down Leonard’s back. Jim settled his hand at the base of Leonard’s spine, quite content to remain touching Leonard.
Leonard shot a quick glare in Jim’s direction as his body reacted to the closeness of Jim’s presence and the slow slide of his palm. Jim was unrepentant and was not to be rushed in his touch. If Leonard wished it to stop, he knew he would have to step away from Jim and it would only raise questions in Pike’s mind as to why they did not now appear to get along.
“I salute those that deserve it, not youngsters that should know better. Now, come along and let’s see what Cook has prepared for dinner.” On that order, Pike moved his chair back around and headed toward the open far doorway and the dining room beyond.
Leonard stepped forward to follow, placing his drink on the table as he walked past it. He hissed in a breath and stopped in his tracks when he felt a hand gliding across his ass.
“Jim!” he accused sotto voce, shocked that Jim would attempt something so brazen while others were around.
Jim leaned in close to whisper something to him, his breath ghosting over the sensitive flesh of Leonard’s neck and ear before he spoke.
“If Pike had not summoned me as soon as we made it back to town, I would have come to see you first. You have me all betwixt and between and I sorely missed your glares these past weeks. Lucky for me you were already here. I missed your lips and your hands more, though, and I do love to see you all as neat as a pin. Makes it more fun to remove it all and leave you en deshabille.” On that final remark and with a brief, teasing flick of his tongue towards his ear Jim was striding off toward the dining room.
“Come along, Bones, don’t be tardy,” Jim announced airily as he reached the doorway.
“I’ll give you tardy,” Leonard glared at the back of Jim as he followed him in to dinner.
***
The dinner was one of the more trying that Leonard had ever attended, even considering he’d attended many a dinner with his wife and her family. Others had expressed the opinion that they would prefer to be in the midst of a full battle than to sit down to dinner with the Darnells.
The company was fine and interesting, as Pike always was. Cook had outdone herself in working her magic on the meal. The issue was all Jim, who was seated opposite him. Jim who spent as much time smiling at Pike and telling stories of the war and his men, as he did sending heated glances Leonard’s way when Pike was not looking. The ante had now been upped and he was bringing his feet into the game. Using the toe of his boot to rub up Leonard’s calf.
Leonard moved his legs further back under his chair, if Jim wanted to continue to try then he would have to slip under the table. Leonard quirked an eyebrow up mockingly toward Jim as he crossed his feet out of the reach of Jim.
Jim then had him swallowing reflexively with the look he directed Leonard’s way and the obscene way he used his tongue over his lips, while Pike was distracted by a discussion with his major-domo.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Jim said as he stood up from his chair.
Leonard watched him walk from the room and pause at the doorway. Jim glanced back over his shoulder and Leonard saw the sly smile spread across his face when he glanced toward where Pike was sitting. Leonard quickly glanced toward Pike to find him still in deep discussion with his servant and his chair turned away from the door. When Leonard looked back to Jim it was to see Jim palming his cock though his trousers and smiling even wider at Leonard. Jim then turned away and headed down the corridor. Leonard knew he was off to the water closet to deal with his inconvenient erection, while leaving Leonard hard as a tack and stuck at the dining table.
“If you will excuse me too,” Leonard said as he also stood up and placed his napkin on the table. Without a backwards glance, he quickly followed the same path that Jim took. He opened the door to the water closet to find Jim with his back to the door and cock obviously in hand.
Jim looked back over his shoulder in surprise. Leonard quickly shut the door behind him and crossed the small room to Jim.
“If I didn’t know better I would think you only had hair under that hat of yours,” Leonard complained in a hushed tone as he spun Jim around to face him. “You! You!” Leonard exclaimed, trying to keep his voice low; obviously frustrated and unable to fully express his complaints about Jim’s antics.
Jim silenced whatever Leonard was going to complain about by grabbing onto Leonard’s face with both his hands and kissing him roughly.
“Got you to follow me didn’t I?” Jim murmured around kisses as he took the opportunity to rub his stubbled cheek along the rough growth of Leonard’s own.
“Do you want us to both hang?” Leonard countered as he ran his hands down Jim’s back to grip at his firm ass through the fine, travel dirt stained trousers. Leonard knew he should have listened to his own warning but the temptation was just too hard to resist.
Jim moaned at the pressure between their bodies, all clothed except for his cock. He started rubbing that cock up against Leonard’s suit of clothes and Leonard was sure that he could feel the warmth of it. He wondered if the heat he could discern was comparable to the heat that the miners coped with each shift that they transverse down into the depths of the earth.
“Missed you,” Jim breathed out as he mouthed at Leonard’s neck, just above the high points of his collar.
“Jim,” Leonard groaned as he moved a hand between their bodies so that he could glide a fingertip down the length of Jim’s cock, feeling the heat.
Jim joined Leonard with another moan and showed exactly how he appreciated the touch on the exposed part of his body with the possessiveness he demonstrated in his kiss.
“Jim, hands on the door,” Leonard managed to get out as he grabbed onto Jim’s coat and dragged him back toward the door.
“Huh?” Jim blinked at him.
“Hands on the door,” Leonard ordered as he dropped down to his knees on the hard, polished wooden floor.
“Yes,” Jim breathed out as he helped Leonard move his trousers open more, before he did as Leonard ordered and put his hands on the door frame.
Leonard wasted no time on preliminaries, they had a limited time before a servant possibly became nosy and came searching for them. As soon as he had settled on his knees, he took Jim’s thick cock in hand and held it in the best position for his mouth to encircle over the head. The tangy taste of Jim was most welcome. Jim’s moans and breathy words of encouragement just had him working harder to bring Jim to completion. They had only been together a few times previous, but it was enough to whet both their appetites. It also meant that it wasn’t long before Jim’s desire for him got the better of him and Leonard’s warning was Jim gripping him hard on the shoulder. Jim made a keening sound from deep in his throat as he came hard. Leonard had a hard time trying to swallow all of Jim’s seed. A lot of it ended up spat out into his hand.
Jim was leaning heavily over the top of him, as his flushed and sated looking face was staring down at Leonard’s own problem that had not been attended to. The man had been teasing him from the moment he had walked into Pike’s house and even with the flush of satisfaction upon him, he was teasing still. Leonard pushed himself up and walked away from the smiling temptation of James T. Kirk, to wash his hands in the porcelain basin. He could hear Jim adjusting his clothing, doing the buttons up on his fly, from behind him.
He dried his hands on the soft towel and then jumped in shock as Jim pressed his body up close behind him and cupped his cock through his own wool trousers.
“You have taken care of me, now it’s your turn,” Jim whispered into his ear as his clever hands started to undo Leonard’s fly while also caressing his hard length.
“Jim, no. We will be missed,” Leonard groaned as he tried to bat Jim’s hands away.
“Hush, you. If you go back in that state, it won’t be missed either. Let me do this for you. I have wanted to get my hands on your cock for over a sennight. You have bewitched and betwixt me. I worried there that you were going to give me a lick and a promise, but no, you were as thorough as always,” Jim had his hands in Leonard’s unmentionables and was rubbing up and down his cock as best he could.
Leonard glared at Jim from where his head was resting on Jim’s shoulder when Jim declared that he was going to do a haphazard job, but a twist of his hand had Leonard groaning and reaching back to grab onto Jim’s coat and hold him in place.
“Over here,” Jim said as he motioned towards the chamber pot.
On unsteady feet, the pair of them moved quickly so that Leonard was standing over the chamber pot and Jim had opened Leonard’s trousers further that he could draw his cock out and aim it toward the pot.
“Can’t have you looking less than as neat as a pin as you normally are, can we?” Jim kept his voice low and intent as he worked both his hands up and down Leonard’s cock.
Leonard looked over his shoulder at Jim, his face so close that he was not as clear to Leonard’s view. He opened his mouth to speak Jim’s name again, but Jim swallowed his words with his lips and his tongue. He pushed and pulled. Tangled his tongue with Leonard’s as he kept a hard and punishing pace with his hands.
“How did I not know how this would be?” Jim said as be nibbled at Leonard’s lower lip. “Hard, smooth flesh. So responsive you are. Want nothing more than to make you shudder and want me again. Want to go home with you tonight. Want you to know that when we go back out there to finish dinner with Pike, that I will want you still. Already now you make me stir again. Feel like a green ‘un. What power you have, Leonard, ‘Bones’, doctor. Do you know it?”
“Yes,” Leonard cried as he felt the orgasm flow through him. Jim had to hold him up, as his legs started to give way such was the force that he was feeling. Jim had used words on him before, but never with this urgency. The man was not some simple solider, but a gentleman born. Words were his weapons just as much as the gun that normally sat on his hip.
“So help me, Jim, you will be the death of me one day,” Leonard said as he peered at Jim through heavy lidded eyes.
“La petite morte,” Jim whispered as he pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot just below Leonard’s ear.
Leonard let out a small huff of breath, a small laugh and a shake of the head was all that he was capable of at that time. His limbs all felt loose and heavy. Like he was falling into quicksand. That was what Jim was to him. Apparently harmless and benign but when you took a step in his direction he was deadly. Deadly to his sanity.
“You should go back, Pike will wonder what has become of us. Go charm him and I shall be along soon,” Leonard ordered.
Jim contemplated him for a moment, his expression serious as Leonard knew that he was weighing all the scenarios in his mind.
“Go,” Leonard said again as he pushed Jim gently away.
Jim nodded before he stepped up close and gave Leonard a gentle kiss upon his lips. “Know that I want you still,” he said before turning and exiting out the door.
Leonard leaned back over the chamber pot, staring that the result of their mutual passion. He picked it up and carefully poured the contents down the basin, using the pressurized water that had been installed by Pike’s Head Engineer, to wash away the evidence. He put the pot back in it’s place and proceeded to put himself away and his clothing to rights. He glanced down at the bowl and realized that the servants would come in to empty the pot and there might be talk about why the pot was empty and what had kept them in this room for so long. He swore under his breath as he undid his pants to again take out his cock and started to think of every instance of running water he had even witnessed in his life. It took him a while, but eventually he got the deed completed and once setting himself to rights he returned to the basin to splash cool water in his face, trying to cool down his still heated flesh. He wondered if he could plead an illness with Pike, his visage would more than likely have the man thinking there was truth to the lie. Although it was not fully a lie, his illness had a name.
James T. Kirk.
***
“And you're sure you don’t want to stay here tonight, Leonard?” Pike asked. “I can arrange for a room easily enough.”
“No, thank you, sir. It’s a small complaint, nothing too much to worry about. Please present my compliments to Cook and assure her that I had symptoms of the complaint a little before we went into dinner,” Leonard offered his hand to Pike to shake and so that he could take his leave.
As Pike took his offered hand, Jim added his voice to the discussion.
“I’ll look after him, sir. I’m sure the good doctor can find the right cure for his complaint when he is back in his house,” Jim said in his smooth, coaxing tones that Leonard had heard him use before.
“Virginia City and I are very glad to have him, make sure you get him home safely, Captain Kirk,” Pike ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Jim smartly snapped off a salute and then stepped out of reach of Pike quickly.
“How no one had you up on insubordination I will still never know,” Pike complained.
When Jim started to smirk a little at the complaint from Pike, Leonard knew it was time to leave. He headed for the door that was being held open by Miss Colt. “Come along, Jim, before Mr. Pike starts to list all the charges he himself could have brought you up on.”
Pike laughed, “Too true, doctor. We shall be here all night if I started on that list.”
Leonard nodded his thanks to Miss Colt and took his hat from her before he exited out the door and into the cool evening air. He heard Jim offering his own goodbyes and then his heavy footfalls on the solid stone stairs down to the road behind him. Leonard had paused at the base of the stairs, waiting for Jim with his back turned. He could well imagine the fine house behind him with it’s imposing entrance, high front with the tower above mirroring the rise of Mount Davidson behind it. It was a house fit for one of the Kings of the Comstock.
It was late into the evening but still there was bustle around that in another town in this country there would be almost silence. There was the incessant background noise of the mines working long into the night. They would never stop, and when Leonard had first arrived in town it took him a number of days to get used to the noise. It now faded into the background. An ever present reminder of why they were all here. There was also the noise from down C Street of the saloons still open and serving the miners who were just coming off shift and needing a libation or a gentle hand of pleasure. This was the city that truly never slept.
“Come along, doctor. I have my orders that I am to take you home,” Jim had slapped him on the shoulder when he came to stand next to him.
Leonard glanced over at Jim to see that he had put his hat on his head at a jaunty angle. It should have looked ridiculous, but this was Jim and his complete assurance in his own self made the ridiculous look sublime on him. He stepped away from Jim with a shake of his head and headed toward the shortest path that would take him to his house. The shortest and safest path that was.
Virginia City was a well to do town, a very well to do one. Leonard had come from one of the most prosperous cities in the South, but the wealth in Virginia City was unlike any he had ever seen before. His ‘luck’ in treating Pike had led to him being able to cash in on some of that wealth and also using some of the best advice of his life that he had received from his father as a young boy.
“Son, a chicken is only good for one Sunday Dinner, but get them a rooster and some cornfeed and you will have plenty of rewards for many a Sunday.”
Every day could be seen a crowd around the Bulletin’s as the Stocks were posted up. Every day it was almost the same crowd; shopkeepers, miners, gamblers, and the ladies of the town standing off to the side and sending young boys in to read the details and report back to them. Every day there were the same words said by most of the observers, “I’ll just hold onto them a little longer while they are still going up.” Many a times the next day those stocks went down and kept going down. The temptation was to hold onto them and make even more profit but Leonard was good at resisting temptation, when it wasn’t called James T. Kirk.
Leonard shook his head as he took in the calm, but alert visage of Jim as he walked next to him down one of the quietest streets in the city. Only the cream of the crop could afford a house along this street. B street was the address, which was why Leonard purchased a new row house on F street on the south eastern side of the city.
In companionable silence they crossed over the dusty street, thankful of no rains lately to send the street into a muddy quagmire. Leonard noted the group of men huddled together a little too casually on the other side of Union street, opposite Mayor Piper’s saloon.
“We should go to Maguire’s,” Jim announced as they walked down the side of Union Street, keeping out of the path of the pack mules and wagons still out at that late hour.
“Now?” Leonard asked in reply, raising one eyebrow.
Jim laughed, “No, but one night soon, we should go. Mitchell went the other week and I have to see these chandeliers for myself.”
“The performance doesn’t interest you? Just some crystal? They don’t have lights in San Francisco?” Leonard responded to Jim’s odd request as they paused at the junction while a mule wagon made it’s slow path down the busy C Street.
“What odd fancies you have,” Jim said in a good-natured manner as he leaned against the balcony column of the saloon.
All around was a cacophony of noise as men entered in and out of the saloon’s and clubs. Music and chatter could be heard from within those establishments. The hawkers were still abounding on the streets, trying to entice the residents of the city out of their hard earned with some miracle cure or others.
Leonard was jostled from behind, and before he could turn and see who had done so, Jim had pulled him out of the way and was standing at attention, bristling in anger.
“My apologies, sir. No harm done to the gentleman, we’ll just be on our way,” a rough voice said, obviously trying to placate Jim as he pulled his fellows quickly across the road. Leonard laid a hand on his arm to turn his attention away from the group of dirt encrusted miners. It was obvious that they had come up from the shafts and did not head to their lodgings to clean up prior to hitting as many establishments as they could in celebrating another day of survival.
“Jim, let’s go,” Leonard coaxed.
“Some people should watch where they are going,” Jim grumbled as he followed Leonard out onto the main road.
Leonard carefully picked his way across the street, stepping over the deep ruts in the road and avoiding the traffic. When he reached the other side of the street he stomped his feet on the wooden walkway, dislodging what dust he could.
“Always so neat, that’s my Bones,” Jim whispered as he joined him.
“Will you stop with that darned nickname?” Leonard complained as he walked away from Jim and headed alongside the saloon.
“No,” Jim happily replied.
Leonard just humphed in reply and kept to his path. They had walked in companionable silence for a period, crossing two more streets when Jim suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him down a small dark alley. Before Leonard could protest, Jim had him pushed up behind a pile of crates and his hand was covering Leonard’s mouth. Leonard’s eyes widened as he saw Jim remove his revolver from his holster and cock the gun. When he opened his mouth to speak, Jim quickly looked back at him and shook his head. Even in the dark of the night and in their hiding place, Jim’s eyes shone almost as clear as day. It was time to trust in Jim’s soldier instincts it seemed.
They waited in silence a piece; Jim alert with his head cocked toward the mouth of the alley and arm ready to raise at a moments notice. Leonard was pushed back to the wall, hands flat against roughened timber of the building behind them. Leonard mentally started to think of the area in bright daylight, which building it was that he was pressed to, Dehner’s Warehouse and Stores he realized.
Then there were voices, hushed but urgent and Jim tensed even further, his eyes narrowing as he waited for what Leonard did not know. He could feel Jim’s fingers press a little harder onto his face.
Solid steps on the packed earth and the quiet jingling of a set of spurs could be heard as someone walked into the alley. They paused the other side of the crates.
“C’mon, Finnegan, I’m sure I saw that fancy army officer head down this a-way,” a voice, with a strong lilt of the Irish to it, called from the direction of Union Street.
“He’ll get his,” Leonard heard mumbled from the man as he obviously turned and retreated toward his companions.
Leonard stayed still waiting for a sign from Jim that it was okay to relax. Footpads and miscreants were a common problem on the streets. Where there was the promise of a quick buck there was always those villains willing to steal to get it instead of earning it by more honest means.
Jim slowly removed his hand from Leonard’s mouth. Leonard noted that he was still tense, like a rattlesnake waiting to strike. He opened his mouth wide, testing his jaw movement after Jim’s strong grasp.
His movements obviously caught the attention of Jim, who turned his head to stare at Leonard. Jim’s lips were parted and his eye’s narrowed as their gaze roamed over his face and settled to stare at Leonard’s lips. Leonard stayed where he was, held immobile by Jim’s gaze. The intent look had him inhaling a deep breath and then holding it as Jim raised a hand and slowly moved it toward Leonard’s face.
“Did I hurt you?” Jim asked as he leaned forward. “Shall I kiss it better?”
“Jim-” Leonard breathed out as he leaned into Jim’s hand, encased in the fine but worn leather of his uniform gloves. There were softer patches of it where he obviously held the reins.
“Jim, yes? Or Jim, no?” Jim asked as he leaned forward to rub his cheek up against Leonard’s. His cheek was rough and abraded from long days under the sun. He also had obviously not shaved recently, maybe that morning at the latest, like Leonard.
Leonard gasped as Jim licked and mouthed a path back toward his mouth. Jim paused just as he reached the corner of his lips, where he whispered again his questions, “Jim, yes? Or Jim, no?”
Leonard turned his head, causing their noses to bump, but he did not care, he was kissing Jim again. He wrapped his arms around Jim, sliding one hand under his coat tails so he could pull Jim flush against him. Jim groaned as he nipped at Leonard’s bottom lip.
Leonard retaliated by pushing his hips forward. Leonard tilted his head back and closed his eyes as he concentrated on the delicious friction they were causing as they rubbed against each other.
Jim took advantage to press kisses to his throat. Deep, sucking kisses that had little nips at the end of each.
The unmistakable growl of a camel broke Leonard’s attention away from the pleasurable sensations that Jim was causing.
“Jim, stop!” Leonard cried brokenly as Jim continued to rut and rub up against him.
“Why? Why should I stop, Bones?” Jim mouthed into his neck, his hot breath tickling over the abrasive stubble of his skin.
Leonard pushed Jim away with all his might and caught his breath as Jim stood and glared at him. When Jim made a move to step back close to him, Leonard held up his hand to halt his momentum. “No, ‘tis too dangerous to begin with and I do not want to walk the final distance with my seed lining my pants,” Leonard told him.
“You would not be the only one with wet pants,” Jim countered. “Also, it is dark and no one else will be the wiser.”
“I’ll be the wiser and I prefer at this moment to keep my trousers dry, thank you kindly,” Leonard said as he stepped away from the wall on still slightly unsteady legs. Jim was still glaring at him. “We have tarried here long enough, I don’t intend to be the next mark for some ruffian. Plus that damn Frenchman is coming past with his pack of camels. What if he looks this way?”
“Fine,” Jim grudgingly agreed. “Luckily we are not far from your house, where once we cross that threshold you will be mine again.”
Leonard held Jim’s gaze for a moment, contemplating the audacity of the man.
“‘Tis my house and I am master within. Whose to say once you are inside that you will not be mine?” Leonard countered, waiting to see what Jim’s reaction would be.
It was a swift reaction, Jim grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the mouth of the alley. Leonard shook his head but moved his feet fast to keep up with the pace that Jim was setting as he dragged him down toward F Street. Jim was oblivious to the camel’s walking past, a regular sight in Virginia City after dark and guaranteed to turn a greenhorn’s head when they first saw them. To Jim, they were insignificant to his notice, his concerns were more immediate.
“Slow down you infant,” Leonard complained as Jim continued to pull insistently on his hand to make him walk faster. “Any faster and we will be running and I am sure my good neighbours don’t need the speculation that my house may be on fire!”
Jim grunted but, mercifully for Leonard’s lungs, he slowed down a bit. He walked up the wooden stairs and paused by Leonard’s front door, finally letting go of his hand.
As Leonard fished for his key in his vest pocket, Jim spoke. “Will Miss Chapel be coming to see you tomorrow?”
Leonard frowned as he paused to contemplate Jim’s strange question, then he realized the reason Jim was asking.
“She has gone into Carson City for a few days. She won’t be back until the weekend. I will be fending for myself for the next few days,” Leonard explained as he unlocked and pushed open the door, keeping his back to Jim as he did so.
“No local to come and help you out in this big house?” Jim asked.
“I can look after myself,” Leonard told him as he lit the lamp that he had placed on the side table before leaving the house earlier. The soft yellow glow illuminated his hallway with the stairs to the upper floor and the other doors on this level all closed, just as he had left them.
“Well, you see I think that is mighty fine news,” Jim declared as he leaned back against the now shut front door.
Leonard turned to frown again at Jim’s strange comment.
He watched as a slow smile spread across Jim’s face. He recognized the look in Jim’s eyes all to familiarly. He had seen it all through dinner.
“We are back for a little bit of leave for the next few days. What more could a man want than to spend time with a civilized gentleman?” As Jim asked the question he nodded toward Leonard before then stepping away from the door and advancing toward Leonard. “Now I think the good people’s of this town would be mighty relieved if you made sure that my uncouth, soldierly ways were tempered by your teachings in the way of proper behavior?”
“I highly doubt that you have spent the majority of your life in ‘proper behavior’,” Leonard countered, refusing to step back as Jim keep up a slow and steady pace toward him. “The only time you would, is when it suits your purpose.”
Jim had reached him and Leonard could see the sharp, startling blue of Jim’s eyes. Every time the man came near he braced himself for the power of those eyes and every time he was helpless.
“What would suit my purpose is to go upstairs with you, Bones. Can I spend the night?” Jim whispered into his ear, breath tickling as his question struck to the heart of Leonard and a desire he had tried to hide or even hide his hope for. To sleep with his man, to wake up to him beside him and have no one to disturb them as they took their time and pleasure in each other.
“Damn me to all seven Hells, yes please,” Leonard responded.
Once more Jim grabbed his hand and dragged him along, this time, Leonard went willingly up the stairs with him.