Moments like this he cherished. These quiet spans with his head tucked into Bones' neck, hearing the steady drum of his heart in his ear. He even enjoyed the way kid dropped off Bones' tongue - he was the only one he enjoyed that word from, actually. After everything, he knew he needed to collect these moments as they came, hold them close and tight. He needed to memorize the sound Bones' heart and the way he drawled his words and the feel of his thumb on his shoulder.

They were the only thing that kept him sane sometimes.

"No, no," Kirk shook his head, pushing up and reaching for the remote. "You say that, and then you keep saying that, and then you never do it." Like Kirk and his physical exams, which he had been better about in the past few months, but honestly Bones shouldn't expect that to last.

Pointing vigorously, Kirk changed from the movie channels to the channels that played nothing but music, an audio visualizer dreamily drifting in the back. He went through several of them to buy himself time as he considered what music, exactly, to put on, but who was he kidding? Bones was a southern boy, a Georgia gentleman. Surely he would have grown up on the proud musical legacy of the South - country.

Stopping on a station playing warm guitar sounds and a deep, drawling baritone voice he stood up from the bed and took Bones' hand in the process. He tugged on him, a bit like a willful child, face flushed like he was about to beam down to a new planet surface.

"You aren't getting to put this one off," he insisted, smile turning just a touch impish at the corners. "Captain's orders."