Since that day he cared not to recall with a super psycho villain he preferred to forget, he'd seen Jim grow. Saw the way he matured and how he seemed to calm down almost. In fact, he'd even worried over the way the man floundered there for a while before Krall decided to put them through hell. Again. It felt sometimes like the Enterprise was marked for ill fortune and poor run-ins. But god, for all the lives they lost, how many did Jim save?

Lifting one hand from the other man's waist, he lifted it to gently cup the side of his face. The pad of his thumb rolled over Jim's cheek bone before he leaned in till their lips nearly touched. "Say stuff like that and you might just melt me." His voice dropped lower, richer, as he tipped his head and kissed the corner of his lips. Because Jim did melt him when he said things like that or did things like this.

For now, he didn't want to move back. The doctor wanted this closeness. The bone deep warmth of Jim Kirk. And it wasn't the first time he realized that every year he spent with Jim, even before this right there, was the best of his life. "Think you're gonna have'ta pull away... Too easy to just stay like this." Maybe not in this exact position, but he wanted to touch Jim and kiss him... and the man put too much effort into plannin' all this.