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writingsfromstarfleet · 6 months

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[AOS] Spock - The Other Kirk

♫ - Spring Day - BTS

A/N: Hello! I think I've written something similar before, honestly I don't remember, but if anyone is still reading these or is still here, enjoy! Hugs! x

for @lovinghufflepuffgirl <3

fem! pronouns (she/her) :)

Growing up, Iowa was life in the fast lane, and things were always constantly moving. The Kirk's were a well-known family, whether it was for your father, Lieutenant George Kirk, and his work in Starfleet, or it was your brother, Jim Kirk, and his truanting and general misbehaviour. America was entirely different to space, and you quickly found that out on your first assignment in Starfleet.

Life on the Enterprise was definitely different to normal life. There were people of different races, species, genders; you name it, it was here. All beings from outer space worked together towards one common goal and it was a close community aboard the ship. You yourself, were human. From Riverside, Iowa on Earth, you were the sister of the Captain, and that didn't really make life too simple.

Despite the difference, your brother stuck up for you no matter what, whether it was earth or the academy, it didn't matter. You were his pride and joy, and he would protect you with his life.

By nature, your brother Jim was loud, obnoxious and confident. There never really was anything he wouldn't do, the man had confidence built from steel. You guessed that's what came from being the Captain. You were the polar opposite of him. Quiet as a whole, you kept your books and studies to yourself, always picking a small, closed off corner of the mess hall to sit in. Most people talked to you in relation to your brother, never really anything else. But, you weren't too offended.

There was always someone a little different, though; Spock.

Your brothers first officer, Spock was always by his side, or on the bridge as acting captain. But, on the semi-rare occasion he wasn't, Spock tended to join you in the corner without much being said between you. In a way, you quite enjoyed it. It was a mutual understanding; you knew he didn't always favour talking, and so a simple smile and a nod of acknowledgement before you both delved back to your datapads and meals, was enough.

This pattern developed over time, and you found yourself sat with him more and more. Conversations started to naturally come between you, and before long, you were learning more and more about him, as he was you. One day, was different, it was still the same old routine, but the conversation was different.

"Good evening, Y/N," Spock started, placing his pad and drink down on the table. "How are you doing?"

"Hi Spock, I'm doing well, thank you, I'm a little stressed out over this, but other than that, it's good." Spock saw your face, brows furrowed but still trying to maintain your usual polite smile. "How are you?"

"I am well, thank you. Perhaps I can help you with that."

Spock spun his pad round and sat down next to you for the first time. Usually, he was less personal and more formal, tending to always sit across from you. But this time, Spock chose the seat next to you instead. You suddenly felt nervous, though you had no real reason to be. Spock took your pad from you, fingers brushing delicately across your own for a second. Though it was only that second, the feeling lingered for a while. Spock stared at you for a moment, and quickly diverted his eyes down. If you hadn't known any better, you'd say his cheeks went a little red.

"What is it you need help with?" he asked, voice low.

"I just don't understand any of it, I'm trying my best but I can't make sense of what feels like a thousand pages of writing."

Spock sat with you for nearly two hours, explaining and writing and helping you where he could. It felt like he had been there all night, and as he spoke and talked you through everything paragraph by paragraph, eventually, it started to sink in and you began to understand. Even being Vulcan, Spock could not hide the pride on his face and a small smile after you explained the study back to him.

"Well done, Y/N, I am impressed." His voice was different, and it sounded happy. His tone and smile told you that.

"You're smiling, you must be proud," you laughed out, and quickly got nervous again. "I, uh, didn't mean it like that if I offended you or-"

"Do not worry, I am proud. You have managed to learn something you did not know. That is an achievement and you should be proud too."

"I couldn't have done it without you, thank you," you replied, not really too sure where to look. You became sheepish, something you had not been much around Spock for quite some time. Whether it was the closeness, or the care from him, you weren't sure.

"It has been an enjoyable two hours, I would like to do this again sometime," Spock seemed a little cautious, taking a breath before continuing. "Perhaps, without the studying."

He took you aback a little, before it fully clicked he was asking you on a date.

"I would quite like that, Spock."

The day came to a close as he walked you back to your room before bidding you a goodnight.

The morning came and you were up bright and early for your shift. As you finished getting dressed and tied your hair up, your comms system rang out.

"Lieutenant Y/N to the Captain's ready room."

With confusion and slight concern, you made your way to Jim's room with haste, not wanting to upset him in case he was in a bad mood or you had done something wrong. Reaching the room, you didn't even have to knock before the door swung open. You stepped inside, and your brother sat with a face like thunder.

"Captain? Or Jim today?" you asked, in the same joking manner as usual.

"Spock?" he replied.

"Weird choice of name, but who am I to judge?" you replied, shrugging.

"Not funny."

"Never claimed to be, you've always been the clown. What's up with you?"

Jim raised an eyebrow, very clearly unimpressed.

"When were you going to tell me you were dating my first officer?"

You couldn't help but laugh. "What? I'm not dating Spock, relax. We just eat together and we're going on a date later this week, but I would love to know who told you that, because they found out before I did and that's one hell of a talent."

"Y/N, seriously. Have you thought about this?" You furrowed your brow, nodding him to elaborate. "This is Spock, he's a Vulcan, which means emotions are not his specialist subject."

"You'd be surprised, Jim. Why do you care so much anyway? He's your XO, you trust him don't you? He wouldn't hurt me, if that's what you're worried about. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't try this out and I won't go this weekend."

Jim stared at you, trying to summon any semblance of an answer for that, but realised he didn't actually have a legitimate reason to stop you. He did trust Spock, and he would trust Spock to keep you safe like he does, and to care for you. There was nothing really he could do to stop this, nor was there any reason he could see.

Sighing, he shook his head. "You're right. I just worry for you, you know? You're all I got, and-"

You cut him off with a hug. His grip tightened and you buried yourself into his shoulder. Pulling back, you smiled at him.

"Don't worry, I love you too. I won't get myself killed, but if I do, he's all yours."

Jim laughed, and you joined in, grabbing your drink and heading towards the door.

"Plus, it was Spock or Bones, so take your pick where you want."

"Y/N!"

With that, you closed the door over a little, laughing to yourself. From around the corner, you saw Spock, who raised his brow.

"Spock and Bones? What about us?"

You shrugged. "Nothing important, but if you go in there I'm sure you'll find out."

Spock cocked his head in curiosity, and you smiled.

"You look adorable like that, by the way." You leaned in and kissed his cheek, and swore you saw that blush red on his cheeks. "See you later."

As you walked away, Spock stood for a second, and touched his cheek where you left that kiss, and very faintly from behind the door came a voice that snapped him out of it.

"What the hell!"

#star trek #star trek x reader #star trek imagine #star trek aos #kelvin timeline #spock #spock x reader #spock imagine #x reader #imagine

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lamelycool · 10 months

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𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑡ℎ 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑀𝑒 (𝑆𝑝𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑥 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟)

"I'm sorry... This is all my fault I should've payed more attention I should have... I don't know I just wish-"

"There is nothing you could have done to change this. It is not your fault." Spock calmy states.

You begin to notice the slight shiver in his voice, and the growing green tint to his skin that's increasing along side the dropping temperature. It really concerns you. The cold must be getting to him. Gods, all of this because of a shuttle crash. The two of you were luckily this planet happened to be inhabitable. Well Inhabitable... but unpleasantly freezing. There's no telling how cold it must feel for Spock with his Vulcan heritage.

"T'hy'la are you alright?" Spock asks breaking your train of thought.

"Sorry, I just... I just feel useless. Sitting here freezing just waiting for the Enterprise to rescue us. If they even rescue us."

"The Enterprise will likely rescue us do not worry. " The unspoken question of when is avoided. There's not telling how long it will take. Hours, days, or worse... The two of you go silent.

"Are you cold? " You eventually speak up.

"I am adequate. "

"Spock, please don't lie... "

"Vulcans do not li-" you cut him off by reaching out a hand placing it against Spock's cheek. You gasp jolting your hand back.

"You are freezing cold! Why didn't you tell me?!" You panic and quickly shed your emergency blanket wrapping it around Spock.

"I did not want to tell you, I do not want to worry you. Please...keep your blanket you need it." Spock shivers out.

"Spock... please let me warm you? "

Spock paused then reluctantly nods. He uncovers himself holding his arms out for you to crawl into. Seems he already knew what you were planing. You snuggle up into him and cradle him close.

"May I touch your hands? "

"You always may. "

"Thank you... " you take his hands in yours gently holding them and rubbing them. Then you breathe warm air on them, breathing warmth into him like you always manage to do.

#star trek #oneshot #fanfic #comfort #fluff #hurt/comfort #spock #spock imagine #spock x reader #tos star trek #aos star trek #reader #reader insert #mr spock #commander spock #star trek movies #star trek fanfiction #alien x reader

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v-o-i-d-e-d · 8 months

Note

May we have a oneshot based on this scene (https://youtube.com/watch?v=BgVJDd5vHfw&feature=share) for Spockxreader?

Omg, I love this scene! Of, course I will do it! I altered some parts just a little bit but the gist is the same. I hope you like it!

Title: Hello Sweetie

Pairing: Spock x fem!reader, implied platonic Jim Kirk x reader, and platonic Bones x reader

Warnings: canon violence, it's implied that Jim meddled for matchmaking purposes, nothing else I think

Word Count: 2924

She really shouldn’t have been here. Pure lunacy had gotten her here in the first place. Doctor (Y/N) (L/N) was never meant for this type of fieldwork and she was willing to bet that her own lack of skill was a huge reason why she was in this particularly dangerous situation. She was stood in the middle of a very ornate room – a sort of banquet hall she surmised – with her hands cuffed in front of her. Her elegant dress was singed at the hem and her hair had fallen out of its elegant updo. She looked around and noticed there were a total of three other people in the room all of whom wore heavy robes with hoods to obscure most of their faces: the alien guard beside her the one behind her and the one standing by the door they just came in through.

“You know when I get invited to parties, normally there’s food,” She said to the guard who stood closely to her right. He did not acknowledge her at all and his large, bug-like eyes stayed focused on the door at the other end of the room. (Y/N) rolled her eyes, “So much for small talk.”

As she shifted her weight from foot to foot with impatience she couldn’t help but place partial blame on the genius who thought this plan up in the first place. Captain James T. Kirk. Just a day earlier he had cornered (Y/N) in her office and asked her to take part in a simple recognizance mission.

“I’m telling you this is an easy mission and it will go off without a hitch! You’re in, you’re out, you’re done,” Kirk pleaded as he followed her out into the main area of the medbay. He had just explained how it would be perfect for her because she was sociable and friendly. Of course, he couldn’t help but add in the added benefit of her good looks. “People will be spilling their guts to you! All you gotta do is bat those eyelashes.”

“Captain, this is harassment. I told you: missions like that are not in my job training.” (Y/N) turned to face Kirk and used her hand to apply emphasis to her statement. “I. Am. Not. Going. End of story.”

The door opened after what felt like hours but what was only a few minutes. (Y/N) watched as an alien that looked similar to the guard but larger walked confidently into the room accompanied by a few other guards. The big alien was dressed in fine clothes and had an elaborate and heavy-looking headdress on, signaling to (Y/N) that it would be good for her health to not piss him off. She stayed silent until the alien stood so close to her that she could smell him. He smelled of rotten meat and expensive oils.

“You are Doctor (Y/N) (L/N) of the starship Enterprise.” He said. “I have reason to believe you are a cohort of Commander Spock.”

This took (Y/N) by surprise. Her brows furrowed and her lips tugged into a frown. Sure she had worked with Spock plenty of times but surely not enough to be considered a cohort, or associated with him by name.

“I think there’s been some sort of mistake here. I don’t even know Commander Spock that well!”

“Spock suggested you specifically for the mission.”

(Y/N) paused and dropped her hand down to her side. Kirk could very well be lying just to get her to agree but then why else would he want a surgeon doing a spy’s job.

“No, he didn’t. You just want me to give in,” She huffed and gathered some old patient files that needed to be sorted and brushed passed Kirk and into her office. She couldn’t deny the rush of warmth spreading across her face but she could do her best at hiding it.

“I’m serious! He said you were beautiful and that you would be disarming enough to get people to talk to you about anything,” Kirk once again followed (Y/N) into her office but this time stopped to lean on the door frame. He crossed his arms and smirked as he watched the doctor deadpan at him.

“Commander Spock said that? Those exact words?” She didn’t believe Spock even knew how to actually compliment people, even behind their backs.

The alien huffed and one of his henchmen stepped forward. He was very scrawny and his large eyes darted wildly around the room.

“We have reliable intel that you are close to the Enterprise’s second-in-command and we would like you to divulge his whereabouts. We know that he has been trying to infiltrate our databases and that is a crime that can not go unpunished,” his voice was harsh, like a steaming tea kettle and (Y/N) winced.

“Well, I’m sorry but your intel is wrong. I wouldn’t even classify us as friends. Well, I mean it’s not that I don’t want to be his friend. I actually like him a lot but he spends just about every moment with me in silence or critiquing me so-“

“Enough! Quit your useless rambling and tell us where he is!” The boss alien thundered out so loud that the floor seemed to shake. (Y/N) was officially freaked out.

“Look, I’m telling you, I have no idea where he is! I don’t even know if he’s on this planet!” She pleaded with the aliens and hoped they believed her because it was the truth. She hadn’t seen Spock for a while, even before Kirk made her go on this mission.

“Yeah, he didn’t say those exact words but that’s definitely what he meant to say. I could tell.”

“Kirk, get out of my office.”

Kirk sighed and walked up to the desk, “Just please do this mission. We are so close to our goal we just need a little push. (Y/N)-

“Doctor (L/N).”

“(Y/N). Please.”

If there’s one thing that (Y/N) can’t resist, it’s James being sincere. It just happens so rarely that she caves right away. After a moment of glaring into Kirk’s pleading eyes, she rubbed her eyes and sighed, “Fine!”

“Yes!” Kirk pumped his fist in victory.

“But I want to talk to Spock first.”

Kirk paused and side-glanced before looking back at (Y/N), “You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Cause he’s on the mission.”

“I thought you said he asked for me. How could he have told you that if he’s on mission already?” (Y/N) raised an accusatory eyebrow, she was sure she caught Kirk in his lie but he was quick.

“Because he just left this morning. Now find your hottest dress and meet me in the transport room for your briefing,” Kirk tapped the desk before quickly exiting the room.

“Wait, Now?!”

(Y/N) could honestly say she had not thought of how to get out of a situation like this. All attention was on her – something that she would normally thrive with – but she was at a loss for words for the first time in her life. The big alien grumbled and leaned forward to look closer at her face. She didn’t hide her fear.

“Look, I swear on my life I don’t know what Spock is doing or where he is,” She couldn’t hide the tremble in her voice but she tried to be as firm as possible.

“Humans,” the alien spat, “They lie so blithely.”

“I’m not lying!”

“How can you claim to like someone but know nothing about them? You are lying!”

(Y/N) huffed and rolled her eyes, “Just because I like him does not mean he likes me! The guy does not even think that way! He doesn’t talk to me unless it has something to do with my job!” She had stepped forward during her rant but was immediately seized by the guards that were closest to her. They gripped tightly on her upper arms but the guard on her left quickly loosened his grip and she couldn’t help but think that the sensation was familiar. It reminded her of her first meeting with Commander Spock.

She was in a hurry to get to the medbay as she had been sent a 9-1-1 message by Bones. In her hurry she had been completely disregarding the safety of other people in the halls, bumping into several people while shouting an apology over her shoulder. It was while she was giving one of these hurried apologies that she managed to bump into a solid form that barely stumbled while she went tripping toward the ground. With a yelp, she braced for the ground but was stopped by a strong hand taking hold of her upper arm.

“Doctor (L/N), it’s not safe to be running through the halls. The hazard is amplified when one is not paying attention.”

The monotone voice of Commander Spock caused (Y/N) to snap her eyes open and scramble to stand on her own two feet rather than being suspended by her arm.

“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry, Commander! You’re totally right, I wasn’t paying attention-“

“Apology accepted, Doctor,” Spock interrupted her rambling and then walked passed her without waiting for a response. (Y/N) huffed and frowned as she too walked away from the scene of the social crime.

“Well, isn’t he a sweetie,” She grumbled before picking up her pace through the halls, this time paying attention to where she was going.

From then on, “sweetie” was (Y/N)’s nickname for Spock. She was careful to never say it to his face since she had worked with him a lot more since the “incident” but in private and amongst friends, the sarcastic endearment rolled easily off the tongue. It got to the point where she even used it with the Captain.

“Why do you call him that, it’s weird,” Kirk questioned one day over drinks in the lounge.

“Because every time I talk to him, he’s an asshole. I think it’s funny.”

Kirk laughed and sipped his whiskey. “Well, I think you might have a crush on our favorite Vulcan.”

“Oh, I definitely do,” (Y/N) was very direct. Kirk choked on his drink in surprise and coughed as (Y/N) continued, “But that’s out of the equation because I don’t even think Spock thinks about anyone unless they’re useful for something he needs doing.”

(Y/N) downed the last of her drink and shook her head to try to rid herself of the floaty state the alcohol put her in. In the morning, she would regret letting James Kirk in on her best-kept secret but she was not worried about that or anything else except for going to bed.

“Well, speak of the devil,” Kirk said with a smirk. Spock walked in with his hands clasped behind his back and his usual blank expression. Upon noticing the state of his friend and his colleague he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Oh, hello, sweetie!” (Y/N) laughed at her own words and Kirk couldn’t help but laugh as well. Spock was stunned into silence. He let his hands drop to his sides and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He didn’t know exactly how to respond, she had never called him anything other than his name and rank before. He decided to ignore the sudden endearment.

“Captain, you’re needed on the bridge,” He managed to finally say what he needed to say before quickly turning and leaving the room.

When Kirk took the liberty of retelling the story to (Y/N) the next morning, she was mortified.

The large alien hisses to one of his henchmen in a language (Y/N) doesn’t understand and then another one of them steps forward. In a tone that seemed to be unsure of the words he was saying, he started,

“Our studies show that typically when one human likes another, the feeling is reciprocated,”

“Spock is not human,” (Y/N) couldn’t help but laugh before correcting herself, “Well, not all human.”

“Then you have no reason to protect him.”

“That’s not how feelings even work! Not human ones! I admire him and I will protect him but I do not expect any such action from him. Just as I don't expect a sunset to admire me back or for the stars to gaze back at me! Feelings are not about reciprocity!”

“This does not align with our intel,” The big alien was clearly angry, and (Y/N) had a strong feeling that things would not go well from here but as she said she would do her best to protect Spock.

“Regardless of your intel,” (Y/N) scoffed, “Commander Spock has much more important things to do than worry about me or what I’m doing so. I’m of no use to you. Let me go.”

Why did she never know when to shut up?

The large alien’s face stretched into what (Y/N) had to assume was his version of a grin but looked more like he was preparing to eat her. She wouldn’t doubt it if she was being honest.

“If you are of no use for giving information, you can be put to other uses, Doctor.”

“What? Wait!”

The guard to her right started to lead her back toward the door they came through and (Y/N) began to struggle.

“Take her to the nursery, the larvae must be fed,” The big alien ordered with a loud cracking laugh. Just as (Y/N) yanked harshly away from the guard pulling her, the guard to her left took firm hold of her arm once more but instead of leading her forward, he tugged her back into him. Suddenly, he pulled a phaser and shot the other guard. Crying out in fear, (Y/N) struggled once more to get away from this rogue guard as the henchmen began to make their way over to stop him. The guard removed his hood and revealed his face.

“Commander!” (Y/N) gasped and her cheeks reddened. Everyone paused for a brief moment of shock before the big alien roared for his henchmen and guards to seize the two star fleet officers. Spock shot a few more before looking down at (Y/N) with an almost unnoticeable smirk.

“Hello, Sweetie,” He said before moving his grip from (Y/N)’s arm to her hand and pulling her to a run. (Y/N)’s face was warm and it was not because of the running. She couldn’t help but laugh as they ran through the corridors, dodging phasers and guards. “We have to get to the front entrance. That’s the only place Scotty can beam us up!” Spock shouted over his shoulder.

“Right!”

They ran until they reached the front room. Standing in the middle of the room was not the best option but they were only there for a moment before they both felt the familiar feeling of being beamed up to the transport room. Upon their arrival, Spock immediately ushered (Y/N) toward the awaiting Doctor Bones.

“I’m fine! Just a few cuts and bruises. Nothing I haven’t had before,” (Y/N) tried to wave the grouchy Doctor away but he swatted her hands away and then removed the cuffs.

“I’ll be the judge of that, cupcake. You look like you caught on fire.” He was gesturing to the hem of her dress.

“I think for a moment I did,” (Y/N) laughed while Bones shook his head.

“All right, you’re free to go. You too, Spock.”

Bones finally released the two, though he had told Spock that he could leave about twenty minutes ago. The Vulcan had refused. Spock and (Y/N) walked side by side in silence for a while before Spock broke it.

“You have misread me.”

(Y/N) furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at her Commander who was still looking straight ahead. “What do you mean, Commander?”

“My feelings about you. You have misread them.”

Her eyes widened. In the chaos of escape, she had forgotten that Spock was standing right next to her when she basically saying she loved him. Okay, slight exaggeration but she still felt embarrassed.

“Oh.” That was all she said. All she could say. Another time of silence passed.

“I apologize if my actions suggested that I do not enjoy your company,” Spock was deliberate with his words as if he didn’t know if what he was saying was the right thing. The tips of his ears were tinged a faint green when he finally paused in his step to look at (Y/N). She noticed the blush on his ears and couldn’t help the small smile that snuck onto her face.

“So, you like to hang out with me?”

“Well, I’ve never accompanied you in a social setting so it would be illogical for me to say that I like something that I have not tried.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes.

“However, I do enjoy working with you. You are very good at your job, Doctor (L/N),” Spock clasped his hands behind his back so that (Y/N) would not see him picking at his cuticles. He was nervous.

“(Y/N).”

“Pardon?”

“Call me (Y/N). Outside of work obviously,” (Y/N) shrugged and looked away from Spock’s intense gaze.

“(Y/N).” She could’ve melted at the way her name sounded coming from his lips. It was experimental and a bit rigid sounding but it was a start. She finally looked back into Spock’s eyes and smiled brightly.

“Do you want to go get dinner with me, Spock? I’m starving,” (Y/N) resumed her walk, this time in the direction of the cafeteria. She heard Spock’s steps fall in line with hers.

“I highly doubt that you are starving. You always attend normal meal times which means you must have eaten this morning,” Spock said in a matter-of-fact tone. (Y/N) laughed and shook her head.

“It’s an expression, Spock.”

#Spock x reader #AOS Spock #Star Trek #Jim Kirk #Enterprise #xreader #SpockxYou #Doctor who reference #Spock Imagine

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sprite-writes · 4 months

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failed romantics

Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Reader (original female character)

Summary: Secrets can’t be kept forever, and what better time to reveal them than the Enterprise night shift.

Word Count: 5,902

A/N: yay another chapter!! I have been so excited to write this one since I started this series, I hope you all like it. As always very special thanks to @lightning-writes without them these chapters would literally never get finished LOL immediately after finishing this plz go check out their bucky series; good heart (faulty machine of a man) it kills me in the best way. anyways, thank you for reading plz like + comment if you enjoyed :)

Leonard can only barely make out Kirk’s face under the dim bulb, but he is pissed enough that Jim’s mug is the last thing he wants to see. The music is loud, so goddamn loud , loud enough that the whiskey did nothing for his headache.

“This is not what I had in mind when you said you knew a place,” he yells over the music, staring down the side of Kirk's face.

“What?” the captain calls back, still oblivious to Leonard's scowl. Kirk is absent, completely distracted by the crowd, more specifically the women . His gaze filters from person to person as they pass by the table, a dumb smile on his face the entire time. If steam could come out of Leonard’s ears, it would.

“I said this isn't what I had in mind for tonight.” He reaches across the table and firmly flicks his friend’s temple.

“Hey! What's your problem?” Kirk whines. Leonard is satisfied to have gotten his attention—finally.

“You said you knew a nice place– you said it was a bar!”

“Yeah and? This is both of those things!”

“This is a goddamned petri dish!”

It is. Leonard has refused to even allow his bare skin to touch the tabletop, weary of the unknown sticky substances covering it. There are so many bodies— human and otherwise— packed into the space, it's suffocating, and certainly a fire hazard. It's gross, downright unsanitary, and fucking loud.

“You’re dramatic, Bones, it's nice enough. Loosen up! Maybe try to meet somebody. We’re only in Yorktown for a day, y’know?”

Tipsy Kirk is a fucking idiot.

Leonard recoils at the idea. The captain has gained this…habit lately. This advice-giving habit where he tells Leonard to relax, to get out there, to get laid, and every time it passes through Kirk's lips, Leonard becomes nauseous. He abhors this subject, he really does. The only thing he hates talking about more than his dating life is why he doesn’t have one. Sure, he hasn't had much of one since the divorce anyway, but whatever he did have quickly reduced to nothing after meeting Sunshine. He feels so childish even mulling his thoughts over, and how it feels pointless to consider any other woman interesting since he has already met Sunshine, who is the most interesting. Interesting and pretty. Interesting and pretty and kind. He shakes his head before he starts down his mental list (again). Somedays, it feels like his feelings will swallow him whole. It has been so long since he felt it, the wanting . Wanting to talk to her all the time, or hold her hand, or just be around her. It all makes him feel so juvenile, like he’s a lovesick teenager. She makes him feel like a lovesick teenager. It is the single most frustrating thing he’d ever experienced.

“I don't wanna associate with anyone who willingly steps foot inside this shithole,” he snaps, “C’mon man, let's go.” Kirk protests, of course, even more so as Leonard grabs him by the ear and pulls him up from the chair. He tells himself he’s doing Kirk a favor, that the last thing he needs is a hookup— that he’s certainly not taking out his frustrations on his friend.

The pair weave through the bodies, with Kirk stumbling after his friend and out the door. The cool breeze hits them like a breath of fresh air, and Leonard takes it in. Kirk, on the other hand, furiously rubs his reddened ear.

“What the hell was that for? Are you out to get me tonight?”

Leonard feels a quick pang of sympathy, regretting lashing out.

“Look, I’m sorry, but that place had me sweating like a damn sinner in church, there’s other bars, and it's getting late anyways–”

Kirk would usually push it, and Leonard could tell he wants to, which makes him all the more thankful he doesn’t.

“Fine, fine, whatever but we are drinking when we get back to the ship,” he settles, leading the way home.

Yorktown is cold and downright industrial. Leonard hates it. He would usually be thankful for a pit stop if it means he can feel non-artificial gravity, but, between the dirty club and Kirk’s antagonizing, he’s ready to be spacebound again. Both the Enterprise and the USS Endeavor are in Yorktown for the night, in the process of a personnel transfer. The streets are crawling with Starfleet members.

They walk in silence for most of the way, observing the larger-than-life city and the star crafts buzzing overhead. Leonard would be lying if he said he doesn’t feel a bit empty. Perhaps the low-lit, music-blaring monstrosity would have felt more tolerable if a certain lieutenant was with him and not stuck with the enterprise night crew.

“You know, I wouldn’t have even known that place existed if it wasn’t for Sunny,” Kirk laughs. Leonard scrunches his nose.

“She recommended that barnyard?” he scoffs.

“Oh god no, she told me to stay away from it. Said it was the grimiest place on this side of the universe. I just thought it sounded like a good time, y’know?”

Leonard stares, really stares, and wonders why he keeps expecting better of Kirk.

“You’re an idiot, and an ass. The woman gives you stellar advice, and you ignore it, and stick her with the skeleton crew.”

Kirk stops so abruptly, that Leonard stumbles over him.

“ I didn’t put her on the skeleton crew, she requested to be. You think I would make her work more than she already does? I’m not a tyrant, Bones.”

What?

“What?” Leonard says out loud. “Why would she ask to be holed up on the enterprise all leave?”

“I mean, I would too if the alternative was running into my ex and all his coworkers.”

Kirk laughs, Leonard’s head spins.

“Her ex?”

“Yeah her— she didn’t tell you any of this?”

“She said she wanted Jameson to oversee the transfer, give him more experience or something, so you put her on his night shift.”

“No? She wanted Jameson to do it because she used to be engaged to the Endeavors head of security.”

Leonard blinks. And blinks again.

“Dude, I don’t even know how to change the schedule,” Kirk adds.

Suddenly, despite talking to her everyday for close to a year, she feels unfamiliar. Engaged? He can hardly imagine it, nor does he want to. Pictures of Sunshine flash through his mind, and he clenches his fist.

“Didn’t know she had been engaged,” he feigns a casual tone.

Kirk furrows his brows.

“ You didn’t know? You of all people?” Leonard shrugs, as his stomach forms a knot. “She tells you everything, and she’s never mentioned Ryder?”

“Christ, his name is Ryder ?”

“I know! Douchebag name, right?”

He doesn’t respond for a beat, which turns into several beats. The gears in his head turn and turn. Engaged . He doesn’t understand why the idea eats at him. He himself had been married for years. So what if she was engaged? There is no reason for him to be upset that his friend—a coworker–had an ex.

He feels nauseous.

Kirk clears his throat, derailing Leonard's train of thought.

“You’re right, it’s late, we should head back,” he says, offering a reassuring smile. Leonard follows him, hands in his pockets.

“Do y’know what happened?” he asks finally. Kirk casts him a sideways glance.

“What, between them? Not a clue,” Kirk says with sincerity enough for Leonard to believe it. “She wasn’t really keen on discussing it.” He pauses and looks at the ground as they walk. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it though, Bones, I think everyone sees she’s only really got eyes for one person these days.”

“Don't start, Jim,” Leonard warns hotly, clenching his jaw.

“Start what? I’m not starting anything. I’m just laying out the facts.” Jim hiccups. “She adores you, man, like adores -”

“Sunshine ‘adores’ everyone she meets. We’re friends—good friends, but that's all.” His patience shrinks as his annoyance grows.

Jim laughs mirthlessly.

“No, Sunshine and I are good friends. Whatever you two are is something else entirely-”

“Anyone ever tell you you don't know when to shut up?” His tone is as cold as the night air, and Jim shuts up.

Leonard wishes Kirk would drop the subject, trip over a rock, or whatever it took to never have this conversation again. Really—what he truly wants is for everyone to stop dangling this hope in front of his face like a carrot. He’s not an idiot, he knows he spends more time with the lieutenant than his colleagues, hears her laugh more often, and knows her habits better.

He knows what it looks like. He also knows that he's a bitter emotionally closed-off divorcee—

He tells Jim that Sunshine is his friend because she is—and he denies wanting anything more because It's stupid to want things out of his reach.

Frustration heats his cheeks and begins to bloom into a headache. He knows Kirk means well, but that fact does little to comfort him.

“Alright, I’ll drop it,” Kirk surrenders, his voice soft. “But there is one last thing you should know,” He pauses at the crosswalk and turns to Leonard. Eerily stoic, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Leonard's breath hitched.

“Ryder’s got nothing on you in terms of looks, okay? Seriously he's like, 5’7, and his face isn't at all symmetrical-”

Leonard revs up and smacks Kirk in the back of the head harder than he ever had and feels no regret. Not even after Kirk's high-pitched “ Ouch!”

“Would you quit it! You gossip like a damn schoolgirl!”

The sign blinks at them to walk, and Leonard drags Kirk across the street, fingers digging into his arm.

“Ow, ow, I was just saying-“

“Wait a minute,” Leonard lets his friend go and smooths down his sleeve. “How do you know what he looks like anyway?”

Kirk puts himself at a safe distance from the Doctor, cradling his arm. “Well, the operations manager would usually talk to the department heads during a transfer, but Sunshine passed him off to me. I said no at first, obviously, because I hate managing, but then she finally told me she was almost Mrs. Ryder Denver. So yeah, I spoke with him a few times, just business. Have to say though, I couldn't imagine them together. He comes off as a bit of a douche.”

Leonard breathes deeply, reigning in the emotions that he doesn’t need Kirk to pick up on. The idea of Sunshine being engaged does enough to unsettle him without knowing that the man in question “ came off as a douche” . He feels something boil under the surface.

“Yeah?” is all he can strangle out.

“Yeah—He’s like a classic douchey security buff,” Kirk continues, unaware of his friend's white knuckles. “You know the kind– uptight, condescending, has one earring and thinks it's edgy-”

“Wears their uniform a size too small? Yeah, I know the type.”

“Exactly, and Sunshine is so…so-”

“Heart-of-gold?”

“Yeah! Opposites attract I guess, but I don't know, something was off.”

To Leonard, the entire thing is off. All of it. Everything . He doesn’t understand why Sunshine decided he doesn’t get to know, why it is a secret in the first place, why she almost married a douche, why he cares so damn much .

The enterprise comes into view like the sun on the horizon, and Leonard is relieved .

“Your arm’s all right?” Leonard asks, an apology without apologizing. Jim knows this and breathes a laugh.

“Yup, the ear’s fine too.”

The Doctor nods, but his eyes remain trained in front of him. Through the glass window panes, he eyes the ship, eager to hide away in the familiar place. He would have opened the door for Kirk, as a gesture, but of course, the Yorktown Federation Port has to have automatic doors. He huffs, and the artificial lights illuminate his red cheeks. They approach their home in silent tandem, their shoes clinking against the hard floors.

“You should talk to her, Bones,” Kirk breaks the quiet, head down while he taps the access code to the enterprise hull. “Ask her why she didn't mention the ex. I’m sure she has a good reason, probably one you'll wanna hear.”

Leonard wants to be mean. He wants to shake Kirk's words off with an insult and go to bed. But he swallows his pride, and it goes down like nails.

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Hope. It bubbles up within his chest, and he pushes it down. Finally, the stark white enterprise interior greets him. He breathes a little easier.

Kirk stumbles over the first step— “ Woah ”-- and Leonard steadies him with a raised eyebrow. “Andorian ale finally catching up with you?”

“Pfft,” Kirk scoffs. “Couldn’t catch me if it tried.”

Leonard pauses, then laughs, the first genuine one all night, and it has Kirk grinning back.

The enterprise is empty, its residents still on the streets they just returned from. So, without restraint, they laugh, and Kirk stumbles, and Leonard forgets for a moment about the unsaid feelings under his skin.

Kirk is an idiot, and he’s a good friend.

He’s happy to banter about whatever comes out of Kirk's drunk mouth and to correct him when he takes a wrong turn in his own ship. Leonard claps his hand on his shoulder and drawls, “It’s this way, captain .”

“Uhh, no , Chekov keeps the good whiskey in his locker, this way,” Kirk insists with a point down the hallway, and Leonard is amazed at his eagerness to get blacked out the night before embarking.

“Are you out of your mind? No way. You can drink like a fish when you don't need to fly a starship in the morning.”

“What are you, my mom ?”

Christ.

“No, but I pity the poor woman,” he huffs and gestures down the hallway leading to his quarters. Kirk frowns and scrunches his nose.

“Raincheck, Kirk, c’mon.”

He begrudgingly obliges, having given his friend a hard enough time tonight anyway. The yawn that crawls out of his mouth a moment later corroborates Leonard's decision. He is tired, and Kirk shouldn't drink anymore, but he’d be lying if he said those were his only motives to end the night early.

“You win this one, Bones, but next time I swear we'll be out till sunrise,” he says between another yawn and a hiccup.

“Uh-huh. Try not to trip.” Leonard reminds himself of the virtue of patience and keeps walking.

Kirk manages to type in his room's access code all by himself, with only a moment of squinting, and a break to roll up the black sleeves of his turtleneck. Leonard is impressed, and the bar is low.

“Drink a bottle of water, and get some sleep, We’ll talk tomorrow.” he crosses his arms over his chest and waits for protest.

Kirk only hums. “You headed to your room?”

The doctor's fingers drum against the doorframe. “Was thinking I’d check in on Sunshine,” he says, blinks, and rushes out, “and the rest of the Skeleton crew, of course. Maybe medbay too, then I’ll hit the hay.” He fleetingly wonders if that sounds believable, or at least casual.

Kirk smiles a genuine smile. “Sounds like a good plan, Bones. See ya in the morning, and tell her I said hi .” Before he can react, his friend waves, and the door slides shut. Then, he’s alone in the hallways, and he has to put his money where his mouth is.

Shit .

The way to the bridge feels daunting now, like climbing Everest. Like climbing Everest with the shittiest rope ever. Like climbing Everest with the shittiest rope ever, several pounds of emotional baggage, and a Starfleet captain breathing down his neck. He considers just going to bed, pretending he never even mentioned the whole thing. Maybe even pretend he doesn't care to get answers. He can just leave it be.

The desire to see her trumps all of it.

The halls are deserted, which he’s thankful for. He doesn’t need anyone around to watch him squirm in the elevator. A deep breath, a punch of the open elevator button and—

“I told you I don't have any threes! Go fish, again .”

He sees the back of the captain's chair first, then Starfleet-issued black boots hanging off of it. The whoosh of the door draws the attention of the room to him. Eyes sweep through the vaguely familiar faces of the night crew, all six staring at him like they are waiting for an explanation, which he doesn’t really have. The heeled black boots plant themselves on the ground, the captain's seat swivels around. His heart works double time.

“ Leonard ? Hi! What are you doing here?”

Sunshine’s got a hand of cards between her pointer and her thumb, and a sweatshirt pulled over her uniform dress, and it distracts Leonard for longer than it should. He clears his throat, and it shakes loose the feelings stuck there.

“Just thought I'd check in on our hard working night crew, who is surely on task.” He descends the bridge steps.

“Well, then, you'll be happy to hear that I am, in fact, glancing at my station every 20 minutes, and I’m the undefeated go-fish champion.”

She waves the cards at herself like a fan, legs crossed and smile wide.

“Undefeated, huh? Glad to see your talents going to good use.” Her smile gets a bit brighter, and she does a quick breathy laugh with her nose. For a moment there's quiet, and Leonard begins scrambling for a way to ask her the thing he wants to ask her. The bridge is crowded, for a skeleton crew, he thinks. The redshirt to Sunshine’s left breaks the silence before he can.

“I’m not sure if I’d call it talent…I’m pretty sure she's cheating,” they grumble, and Sunshine doesn't spare a moment, whipping the chair around. He can almost see the panic fill her eyes, like she’s just been accused of a heinous crime.

“I’m not! Are you still thinking about that last round? Because that was—”

Even Leonard winces a bit at her shrill tone, and he’s pretty sure she just woke the navigator who had fallen asleep at his station, so he claps his hands on her shoulders.

“Sounds to me like this card game has you wound like a spring,” he interrupts her before her voice jostles anyone else awake.

She pouts, lip jutted out and everything.

“Let's go for a walk,” he suggests. He doesn’t even let his nerves talk him out of it. She looks at him curiously, her eyebrows drawn.

“I dunno, I probably shouldn’t leave…”

“I’m sure someone else can deal cards while you’re gone,” he tells her, already offering his arm.

The Ensign, Leonard still doesn’t know their name, waves her off. “Go, Lieutenant, It's fine. I’m sure we can handle a few minutes without you.”

She bites her lip and cautiously loops her arm around his, leaving the captain's chair to her subordinate.

“Alright, but don’t start a new game without me,” she warns lightly.

Leonard doesn’t get nervous with her arm looped around his, really he doesn’t. He’s headfirst into this thing now, no room for nerves.

She drinks her whiskey neat, he learns, and it surprises him. Surprises him even more when she downs it like a shot.

The walk there had been quiet mostly, except for when Sunshine regaled the stories of her card game wins.

“Did you have a nice time with Kirk?” she asks politely.

“I dunno if I’d say that, but maybe Jim would disagree.”

She laughs lightly, and her finger traces the lip of the whiskey glass. He doesn’t know if it’s the best idea, but he refills her cup.

There is a beat of silence, and the conversation with Kirk pushes to the front of his thoughts. There's a heaviness on the tip of his tongue, the desire to ask why . Without really knowing how to.

“Wish I could’ve gone with you guys,” she says, her gaze downcast. There's a rare melancholy to her tone, something vulnerable woven into it.

“You could’ve,” he tells her, and her eyes pull from the table.

“I had--”

“Yeah, I know what you– I just mean–I’m sure Kirk would have given you the night off if you asked… God knows he owes you enough favors.”

“I guess,” she shrugs, “it wasn’t really the best night for it, though.”

He could go along with her lame excuse, vaguely agreeing that, yeah, there will be other nights. But the ache to know what exactly goes on in her pretty head has words tumbling out of his mouth.

“Yeah, Kirk mentioned somethin’ like that,” he mumbles, nerves permeating the sentence.

“...what?”

Shit.

“I mean, he may have-”

“What exactly did he mention?” Her tone holds a sharp undercurrent of something rare for Sunshine– anger.

Leonard runs a hand down his face, suddenly thinking of all the much more tactful ways he could have begun this. The gentle buzz of alcohol still in his bloodstream keeps him from panicking.

“Nothing terrible, just that there was someone in town you wouldn’t wanna see.”

“As if ,” she scoffs. “Kirk’s never been that vague in his life.”

“…fair enough.”

She groans miserably, fitfully pulling the sleeves of her sweater over her hands and burying her face in the fabric.

“You were not supposed to find out like this,” she says, muffled.

“And how was I supposed to find out?” He asks quietly, like the question will frighten her away.

A sniffle comes from behind her hands–the sound tugs at his heart.

“ I don't know. Maybe someone could have told you when I’m dead and then we’d never have to have this conversation.”

He reaches for her slowly, taking her wrists in a gentle hold and pulling them away from her face, revealing her reddened nose and watery eyes. Her hands are cold, and grow stiff under his touch.

“Sunshine. It's an ex , not a damn intergalactic scandal. There are worse conversations to have,” he reasons.

“You don't get it,” she tells him matter-of-factly, pulling her hands from his touch. Embarrassment quickly heats his body, and he wipes his palms on his pants.

“I’d get it a lot more if you talked about it.” He flexes his jaw, frustration bleeding into his voice.

She narrows her eyes, punctuating her glare with a sniffle.

“If I wanted to talk about it, I would’ve.”

“With Kirk? Because he seems to get it.”

“Why are you acting so—”

“Concerned? Oh, I dunno because you’re my friend?” Exasperation colors his tone.

“I was gonna say entitled,” she grits out. Her anger comes out half-heartedly, sounding more like watery sadness than anything. “I don't tell you everything, and I don't have to. You’re not my-” She sighs. “Why does it matter? I was engaged for like, a year, and now, I’m not.”

You’re not my–

Her half sentence sticks in his mind and sends blood rushing to his head. He thinks of all the things that he is to her: a colleague, a doctor, a friend. All the things he isn’t feels like a gaping hole.

He watches her clench her fists and force her tears back.

“It matters because it upsets you enough to work the night shift,” he sighs, the anger he’s been holding seeps out of his hands like water. “I’m not pressing you for the latest gossip, Sunny. I’m asking because it would be lousy of me not to.”

She says nothing, taking in his words.

“I’m no stranger to this stuff, y’know,” he prods her gently. “My ex-wife sent me running all the way to space .” He says lightly, and the corners of her mouth twitch up briefly.

“He didn't send me running, I sent him,” she confesses, shaking her head.

“ You ?”

“Me. The thing is,” she shrugs, “it should have worked, y’know? Like on paper, it was perfect. Ryder and I were academy sweethearts, liked all the same shit, were top of our classes, blah, blah, blah.” She rolls her eyes. “Our friends used to tease us, say that it wasn't fair, and we were too in love.”

“Sounds nice.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” she says, sighing. Her eyes drift nowhere in particular. “It didn’t feel nice after a while though. It felt suffocating. I was half a person with him, we were Ryder and Sunshine–and that was one entity.” Her tears dry on her lashes, as she becomes entrenched in the memory.

“But the person we were wasn’t me . Because he never thought my jokes were funny, or my hobbies were interesting or my friends were cool, so I was willing to throw them all out. Eventually all that was left was him. His ideas, his wants, his needs. I was backed into a corner. I should’ve left when I realized but I loved him… and I was really scared of being alone.”

She pushes her hair behind her ears and lets out a shaky breath.

“I was a coward, and I couldn’t leave. I wanted to try and fix it, figure out who I was, and then maybe Ryder could love that person,” She shakes her head. “I was naive. Ryder always wanted someone I couldn’t be. Someone quieter or someone better at being a person. I’m always so all over the place you know? Too much for him.”

“You’re not–”

“It's okay, Len, you don't have to say anything.” she says, meeting his eyes again, taming the budding fire in his heart.

The idea of Sunshine being anything but completely herself unnerves him. Her jokes are funny, he can’t recall ever laughing as much before she boarded the enterprise. Her ramblings about xenobotany and classic earth songs never fail to catch his attention, even when he barely knows what she's talking about. Being around Sunshine is as easy as breathing, and he’s starting to need it as much too.

“Anyways, he proposed our senior year, like we weren’t a sinking ship, and I said yes and pretended like the ring wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to bring us back to life.”

Her teeth sink into her lip, her eyes dragging to her lap.

“I don't know what it was, but one night I just…broke. I couldn’t keep pretending to be someone I wasn’t, or beg to be loved.”

A few tears slide down her cheeks, she scrubs them away with her sleeve.

Leonard wants to tell her that she should never have to beg for anything in the first place, least of all love; he wants to tell her that she's worthy just the way she is. His fingers twitch with the desire to take her by the shoulders and tell her over and over that she’s perfect, that she couldn’t be too much if she tried. Sunshine has always had a magnetic pull to her, drawing in everyone she meets with her warmth. The idea of anyone taking that away from her pulls his heartstrings tight enough to snap. He holds back his anger, refraining from telling her that Ryder is an asshole who didn’t deserve a second of her time.

The wiser part of him knows that's not what he needs.

“We had planned to be on the USS Endeavor together, but I rescinded my application. I signed up to do on-planet research instead. I wrote a long letter, left it on our bed, packed up my things, and left.”

She coughs in a way that he knows is covering up a sob and takes a deep breath. The sound sends a pang of emotion through him.

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. We were engaged, for Christ's sake, and I couldn’t even look him in the eye when I left him. And don’t even get me started on the fallout. We had all the same friends, and our families were so close… it was all so humiliating . Everyone expected us to live happily ever after, and then, there I was, giving him back his ring in a coffee shop.”

She knocks back the rest of her drink, like a consolation prize for getting all the words out.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Len. I never wanted you to think of me like that, as someone who would do that.”

“ Sweetheart ,” he says like a plea, calling her attention. “No one in their right mind would think differently of you for leaving something that wasn’t good for you– or at least they shouldn’t.”

She's shaking her head before he finishes his sentence.

“But I–”

“I know. You didn’t go about it the way you maybe should’ve– or the way you wanted to. It doesn’t make you a bad person, it doesn’t make you any less… good.”

She hiccups, her chest rising and falling rapidly as another stream of tears drips down her cheeks. He can't help himself – and even if he could, he doesn’t want to – he brings both hands to her cheeks, wiping away the salty tears.

“It's alright,” he says gently, swiping his thumb under her eye again. “You’re alright.”

She nods, breaths finally evening out, and his hands reluctantly fall back onto his lap.

He remembers well the storm of feelings his divorce left him with. The gulit, the lonliness, feeling like the world was ending.

“I get it, y’know. The shitty relationship, becoming somebody you don't wanna be,” the barstool squeaks as he leans on the counter. He hasn't talked about his marriage since he told the story to Kirk years ago. It feels odd to tell it again.

“My ex and I met in college, fell head over heels, and I proposed a year later. I thought… well, we both thought we were soulmates. There was this connection between us that I’d never felt before, and I thought this must be it.”

“After a year ?” she gawks. He casts her a sideways glance and chuckles.

“A perfect year, mind you. Not a single disagreement, not a bad date– every day was straight out of a damn love story or something. Until we got hitched, that is. Then it was all disagreements.”

He anxiously taps a rhythm on the bar top. The memory still burns him now, of the fiery conflict, of the sleepless nights.

“We were the same in all the worst ways, stubborn, headstrong, prideful. We couldn't settle an argument to save our lives. It probably didn't help that I was in the middle of residency and pulling 100-hour weeks. It was miserable. I hardly recognized myself… I know I don’t have the best temper, but I never wanted to be an angry person.”

He lets out a slow breath, “I was mad as hell when she called it quits, said a lot of stuff I regret. But she was right to do it. We brought out the worst in each other, I was just too narrow-minded to see it. All this to say, I’m sure I would have taken the night shift to avoid her too.”

Sunshine rests a comforting hand on his shoulder, her thumb pressing circles into the muscle.

“I’m sorry, Len.”

He leans into her touch without thinking about it. “These things happen,” he tells her decidedly. “When something’s not right, there's nothing you can do to change that. You do the best you can with where you’re at, that's all.” He pictures himself, young and full of fire, holding onto something that had already slipped away. “Which you did, Sunshine. I know it’s hard to see now, but I promise it gets easier.”

When he drags his gaze from the mahogany bar top back to Sunshine, she's watching him curiously.

“What am I supposed to see?”

“That you were young, and scared, and you did what you needed to for yourself. Even if it's not shit you’re proud of, it makes you who you are. You learn, and it makes you better.”

She says nothing, silently considering his words for several moments. “Well, it better get easier soon, because it sucks .”

He chuckles, “That it does.”

She reaches right past him and grabs the half-empty bottle of whiskey.

“We should toast,” she says, the melancholy in her voice fading away, probably tucked back behind a wall. “To failed marriages.”

She’s already refilling their glasses and lifting hers to bump with his.

“Thought you ducked out on the whole wedding thing?” he teases.

“Fine then, to failed romantics,” she impatiently shakes the ice in her glass, “Just do it.”

He knocks his glass with hers and agrees, “To failed romantics, and night shifts, and all the other shitty stuff.”

Her face pinches as she finishes her drink. Gingerly, she takes both of their glasses and stacks them behind the bar.

Like ripping a bandage off and letting the wound breathe, Leonard feels lighter. As Sunshine hops off the bar stool and straightens her uniform skirt, he can see on her face that she does too.

“Thank you for the drink, and the talk, Len,” she says, and he waves her off.

“Don't mention it.”

“ Totally gonna mention it,” she grins, “and when the schedule suddenly gives you two days off in a row, you’ll know why.”

He laughs, and shakes his head, “I don’t think that's allowed, Lieutenant.”

“I have my ways,” she says innocently, as she saunters to the door.

He watches her go, everything she’s told him still buzzing in his head. He can hardly make sense of everything he’s feeling at once, but there's one thought that sticks out among the rest, that sits on his chest, demanding to be heard.

“Sunshine?” he calls before she’s gone, giving into his relentless mind.

“Yeah?”

When she turns around, he’s flooded with everything he’s ever wanted to tell her. How she has seeped into every part of his life since he met her, despite his once armored heart. How she doesn’t see it, but she's changed the entire atmosphere of the bridge, pouring life into it with her energy. How she's taught him how to be a better friend, a better man, even a better doctor. How she’s not too much, she's everything.

“You should know, you’re never too much, that's ridiculous. Anyone on this ship would agree in a heartbeat. Don’t know what I’d– what we’d do without you,” he rushes out. “I hope you never think you need to be anything other than who you are.”

She goes still in the door frame and observes him for a moment. He flounders in her silence, wondering if he should have just kept his mouth shut. She suddenly moves from the doorway, quickly striding towards him, the sound of her boots clacking on the floor. He has no time to react before she gently places her hand on his chest. She wastes no time, leaning down and pressing a warm kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you,” she says meaningfully, searching his eyes for a brief moment before she turns heel again. She’s out the door without him even mustering up a word to say.

His skin heats where her lips had touched him, a crackling feeling left in their place. He lifts his fingers to the skin, ghosting over the sticky remnants of her lipgloss.

He sits, dumbfounded, knowing he’s gone somewhere there's no coming back from.

#guys new chapter whaaattt #theyre so close to kissing I swear #leonard mccoy x reader #leonard mccoy x you #bones x reader #leonard bones mccoy #star trek imagine #star trek alternate original series #star trek #on a cloudy day #leonard mccoy #james t kirk #star trek aos #star trek fanfiction #karl urban #chris pine

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spirkbitch · 8 months

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someone in my tiktok comments said they cant forgive aos for what it did to spirk fanfiction (correct) and someone else replied “wait what do you mean there’s so much aos fanfiction”

girl that’s the problem i can’t find any of the good stuff because aos fics are in the way

#star trek #spirk #sometimes you start reading it and it seems good but halfway through they start describing chris pine #‘his eyes shone like sapphires’#get that shit out of here actually #and no offense but i can’t get into it after i know you were imagining chris pine and zachary quinto while you were writing it #i’ve literally read maybe one that was tagged as both and was actually good #which makes me think it was probably wayyy ooc for aos #like if i liked it they obviously had tos in mind while they were writing it

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lenievi · 8 months

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was looking through stuff and found this Beyond snippet

“I got you something.” Jim opened his fist. A silver talisman lay in his palm. Carpe diem written above an hourglass with wings.

McCoy frowned. “It’s not my birthday.”

“But I want you to have it.”

“Is it a tracking device?”

“Do you want it to be a tracking device?”

McCoy rolled his eyes.

“You can’t say it wouldn’t be useful the next time someone decides to kidnap you,” Jim said, crow's feet adorning his eyes. “But no, it’s just an ordinary pendant.”

“So… what’s the occasion?”

“It’s a Vulcan tradition to use amulets as a sign of engagement –”

“Stop right there!”

“We are not Vulcans, Bones.”

“Thank heavens.”

“But… the recent mission, the last year even, my birthday… it reminded me that the future is uncertain. That life is short. I want us to face the future together. I want this necklace to be the symbol of that.”

McCoy wet his lips.

“Can I?” Jim raised the pendant, his eyes boring into McCoy’s.

McCoy nodded, his heart loud in his ears, and Jim leaned closer and fastened the chain. McCoy breathed in. He was Jim’s. He was – his arms shot up and pulled Jim into a tight embrace. Jim let out a soft laugh and hugged him back, burying his face into the crook of McCoy’s neck.

#mckirk #leonard mccoy #jim kirk #star trek aos #my writing #occasionally i write fluffy fluff too :D #because carpe diem is by horatius and mccoy's middle name is horatio i just like imagining kirk getting this one specifically #because of the name connection lol

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theshadowrealmitself · 5 months

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Thoughts only funny to me: Kirk Prime being found and rescued by a completely random third party, this lone wolf explorer, who finds Spock Prime in the aos universe expeditiously because they can’t stand having Jim Prime in their ship anymore

They’d like the guy under any other circumstance, but 1) they’re not used to having another person in their ship and they’re realizing it’s completely draining to them, and 2) Jim keeps going into captain mode™️ and accidentally sitting in the captain’s chair and making orders and the oc is just Done™️

They find Spock Prime, try to get Jim Prime off their ship, but because it’s a fascinating ship (long story), now they have the both of them on their bridge looking at everything, obviously not in a hurry to leave

Oc is done doing good deeds.

#it’s just really funny to me #they try to rush them but technically some stuff on their ship isn’t exactly ‘legal’#and I’m imagining Spock prime is with the aos crew #and oc does not wanna get in trouble with starfleet #so they’re sitting there with a strained smile #star trek #spock prime #Jim Kirk prime #s’chn t’gai spock #Spock #jim t kirk #jim kirk #james t kirk #james tiberius kirk

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captainsophiestark · 14 days

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Not A Doctor

Bones McCoy x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my personal fic writing challenge for 2024, Sophie's Year of Fic! Featuring a new fic being posted every Friday, all year long :)

Fandom: Star Trek

Summary: Bones' SO hurts themselves on an away mission and has to stitch themselves up as well as they can to buy time for a med evac to the Enterprise

Word Count: 1,533

Category: Fluff, Humor, a little bit of Angst

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Shit," I hissed, pressing a hand to my side as I slid down the wall. When I finally got up the courage to pull my hand back and look, it came away with a lot more blood than I'd hoped to find. I'd fallen pretty far and managed to avoid any broken bones based on my pain levels, but the wound in my side was gaping and looked concerningly serious.

I could practically hear the extended bridge crew chorusing "I told you so" from here.

As if on cue, my communicator beeped. I grimaced, but managed to take it out of my bag and open it to respond.

"What's up?" I groaned.

"Y/N, where are you?" came the voice of Jim Kirk, one of my best friends and the captain of the Enterprise. "Scotty's reporting he can only find two targets to beam up."

Dammit. That figured.

"I'm... not totally sure. I was trying to follow the signature on my tricorder to that plant I've been looking for when the ground just gave way under me. I'm not sure how far I fell, but I hit something pretty hard on the way down and I've got... quite the gash in my side."

Silence on the other end for a few moments, then:

"Hang tight. We're coming to find you."

The communicator hung up with a click, and I sighed, ignoring the flare of pain in my side. I had faith in Jim's determination and ability to find me, especially with Spock here helping him, but I still needed to do something if I wanted to be alive when they found me.

Thankfully, I'd watched my boyfriend, Doctor Leonard McCoy, stich people up often enough that I felt fairly confident I could do a passable job on myself. I dug some sewing supplies out of my bag that I hadn't removed from my last away mission misadventure, and pulled the hem of my shirt up to get a better look at the wound.

I grimaced, gritting my teeth and trying to prepare for this. I'd been so excited to join Kirk and Spock on this away mission. This planet was supposed to have one of the rarest plants in the galaxy, and I'd been looking forward to finding it since I'd first heard we'd be coming here. And now, I was at the bottom of this pit or cave or whatever, slowly bleeding out, without even a picture of the plant to show for it.

Ugh.

I tried to focus on my breathing as I threaded a needle and put it to my skin. I knew the wound needed to be disinfected before I totally closed it, but I didn't have anything on me to do that with, and I knew Bones would be able to take care of it for me if I could manage to get back to him.

I took a few deep breaths to steel myself, then stuck the needle through. I swore loudly and kept up a steady stream of expletives as I sewed up the wound. I pulled it closed as tightly as I dared, then held my jacket to my waist to try to staunch the remainder of the bleeding.

I sighed, long and hard, then leaned my head back against the wall of whatever hole I'd fallen into. I had no idea how long those stitches had taken me, but it certainly hadn't been quick. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too much longer before I heard Jim and Spock stumbling down some passage towards me.

I focused on deep breaths as the pain continued to throb in my side, completely zoning out to the time and environment around me. Finally, I heard some shuffling movement from a slightly more gradual incline up ahead of me. The voices of my friends echoed out, curious and searching.

"Y/N!"

"I'm here!" I called back, my voice a little weaker than normal. I cleared my throat, then tried again. "Here!"

A moment later, my friends came into view. Jim grinned at me as Spock started scanning the space, probably trying to decide on the best way to get me out of here.

"How're you holding up?" asked Jim. I forced a smile.

"Living the dream."

He scoffed, then moved to crouch beside me and put one of my arms over his shoulder.

"Spock! Come help me."

"We'll need to get around the corner and most of the way back up the incline we came down to reach a spot where Mr. Scott can register us," said Spock as he joined us. "There seems to be some property of this rock that's prohibiting the transporter signal from reaching us."

"Great," I huffed, grimacing as my friends pulled me to my feet. Even resting most of my weight on them, I was still seeing spots. "This is gonna be great."

Between the three of us, somehow, we managed to get back into transporter range. I almost lost consciousness at one point, but we'd paused, and I'd managed to pull myself back from the brink. When the Enterprise's transporter room finally materialized before me, the relief was palpable, not least of all because Bones was waiting for me.

"Y/N," he said, jumping to attention and rushing onto the pad to replace Jim at my side. With Spock's help, we started moving immediately for the Med Bay. "What happened?"

"I was following the signature of the plant I was looking for on my tricorder. Then all of a sudden, the ground gave way underneath me. It wasn't a straight drop, I don't think, but I fell a pretty long way, bouncing off the rock slide and the walls of the cave I fell into on the way down. I'm bruised, but I don't think it's anything bad besides the cut on my stomach."

Bones nodded. "We'll get you to Med Bay and make sure."

Luckily, my boyfriend was very good at staying calm and focused in a crisis for his patients. He was completely in the zone as he and Spock helped me into a bed once we reached Med Bay, and then Bones started checking my vitals and assessing my injuries. I watched him carefully for any break in his usual bedside manner to tell me if I needed to be worried about something, but none came.

Hopefully that was a good sign, and not just because he was an incredible doctor.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to me, Bones returned from his testing and reappeared by my bedside. His hands were on his hips, but he seemed calmer, and definitely out of intense doctor mode.

"Alright, the good news is you'll be just fine. But I'm still gonna need to disinfect the wound and stitch you up," he said. I gave him the best smile I could muster.

"Sounds like a plan."

He sighed, then gently lifted my shirt high enough to give him access to the gash in my side. The light touch of his fingertips sent goosebumps along my skin, but I did my best to ignore them, especially as Bones frowned.

"What the hell did you do to yourself?" he asked, not looking away from his work on my side.

"Uh... I slammed into a rock. We covered this already, remember?"

"No, I didn't mean your injury." Bones paused and looked up at me, the smallest smile tugging at his lips. "I meant these stitches. Yikes."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, making Bones chuckle as he got back to work.

"Okay, whatever. I'm a biologist, not a doctor, dammit. I think I did a pretty good job, considering the circumstances."

"Mm, I guess so. Barely."

"Hey!" I laughed, hitting him lightly in the shoulder. "You better knock it off or I'm gonna start practicing my stitches on you."

Bones snorted, but I could see the smile on his face as he continued working. Thanks to the medical facilities of the Enterprise, it barely hurt as he undid my messy job and redid it with a much better one of his own.

"So... what are you doing after this?" I asked after a few long moments of letting him work in peace. He paused to look up at me again, one eyebrow raised.

"Don't tell me you're hitting on your own boyfriend after only the low-level painkillers I gave you?"

"I can and will hit on my own boyfriend whenever I want, no painkillers required. But I was mostly asking if you had other patients to deal with after me, or if you'd be free to come cuddle on the couch and eat junk food with me. I think it'd really help speed up my recovery process."

Bones' mouth quirked into a smile again as he put the finishing touches on my stitches.

"Well if it's for the wellness of a patient... I think Nurse Chapel might be willing to take over from me for the rest of the day."

"Thank goodness for Christine."

Bones and I shared a smile, then he returned to his work and I watched him contentedly. Obviously, life and death situations on away missions were never ideal—but I couldn't really bring myself to be upset about how this one had played out, even if I hadn't managed to get my plant in the end.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989

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captainpikeswoman · 2 years

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May I please request kinds of kisses for AOS Bones?

Hope you like it!

Types of kisses with AOS Bones would include:

•oh this man’s kisses…you swear they could resuscitate you better than any medical equipment! He laughs when you say that, but actually it makes his heart feel so fluttery and warm when you say it. And your kisses do much the same to him too!

•well first of all, the sweetest kisses you two share are the ones you give him every night. As you tuck into bed you’ll press a peck to his cheek, but that always makes him pout and say that you missed the target! So you have to give him another kiss, a short one to the lips, and then you’ll both fall asleep smiling.

•there are spontaneous, celebratory kisses! When there’s good news and you’re all jumping for joy, you’ll leap into his arms and plant a kiss to his lips. It always makes him smile- you can feel his grin tugging at his mouth as you two get swept away in a fit of passion.

•Bones knows your body inside and out. So he knows the location of the weak spot on your neck, at the end of a long shift he’ll sneak up on you as you finish at your work station, and his lips will close on the skin of your neck, kissing, caressing, making you melt and moan! He loves it!

•if you or Bones are in a particularly amorous mood, he’ll pull you into his lap and hold you impossibly close! Your lips will be locked in an embrace that’s so hot and passionate it leaves you clinging onto his strong shoulders- you’re at his mercy! Meanwhile one of his hands will be clamped round your pulse point on your wrist, very much enjoying the way your pulse sky rocketed as the kiss intensified!

•sometimes when Bones is sad you’ll kiss him to cheer him up, and it always works! Within just a few moments of your lips tenderly caressing his head smiling again, you always make his heart lift!

•if kissing is an art form then Bones takes it to the next level. You can’t help but want more kisses, all the time. You love to sneak into his office so you can play at Doctors and nurses…there isn’t a ‘safe’ surface in his office, every single bit has been christened by you both. But the best kisses are the ones that come when you’re sat on his desk, he’s stood between your legs, your head cradled in his strong hands as he just pours love over you- kissing you with love and in a way that makes you so dizzy that you can’t help but be glad you’re sat down.

#star trek #star trek imagine #star trek x reader #star trek headcanons #star trek aos x reader #aos dr mccoy #star trek alternate original series #Star Trek aos imagine #Star Trek aos headcanons #dr mccoy imagine #dr mccoy headcanons #dr mccoy x reader #bones #bones headcanons #aos bones

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seekingjamaharon · 1 year

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i see your "jim makes plomeek soup for spock" and i'll raise you "spock makes scotcharoos for jim"

#i was torn trying to pick the most iowan of the various iowa delicacies available #how to choose between 'ham balls' or 'loose meat sandwich'#i just get a kick out of imagining spock's face as he researches traditional midwestern cuisine #as amusing as it is to picture jim adapting to vulcan cultural practices #it is objectively more hilarious to picture spock trying to learn the difference between 'yeah no' and 'no yeah'#anyway jim being from the midwest is very important to me personally so here we are #spirk #star trek tos #star trek aos #jim kirk

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spocks-longterm-boyfriend · 4 months

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Bigger Fish to Fry

This is my first time writing fic ever! Inspired by a post by @spirtkrek linked here where she headcannoned spock as having a little glowing minnow that he's obsessed with. I sat down and listened to there's something going on by frida and this is what happened! Thanks!

The ship thrummed comfortingly beneath his feet as Kirk hurried through the hall towards the officer’s quarters. He assured himself that he was in fact moving at an entirely normal pace, just with purpose, and due purpose at that. Kirk had, to no avail, been seeking out Spock since the end of Alpha shift, which had now ended a standard hour prior. After not having located him in the labs or the officer’s mess that his first officer most often frequented after a typical alpha shift, Kirk had messaged Spock to ask of his plans for the evening and been met with no response. While Kirk would normally just have been disappointed that the Vulcan had departed so quickly after shift, when they often left in a natural tandem, at the present he found himself genuinely concerned at his first officer’s rate of exit. Spock had left in a hurry, after a relatively-trouble free shift, and Kirk felt it would be remiss of him not to see what might have disturbed his typically level mannerisms– even if Uhura had wrongfully chided him for being lovesick and overprotective as he caught her to ask after Spock on the way to the mess.

As he moved along his ship’s corridors, Kirk found himself mentally searching for an answer to Spock’s rapid departure from the bridge. Kirk felt that in the past year and a half of their working together Spock and himself had developed a strong working relationship and even a tentative friendship. Although, its tentative nature came more so from Kirk’s apprehension to breach what he perceived as Spock’s level of comfort with him than any reservation of his own. He knew that Spock was more reserved than himself in regard to defining his relations, and while they found themselves together often in their off hours, and Kirk trusted him more than just about anyone other than Bones, he hesitated to label himself as Spock’s friend. Nevertheless, he felt confident that Spock would have responded to Kirk’s inquiry at his status for the evening if something were not occupying his attention, and paired with his quick exit from the bridge, Kirk found himself concerned.

Kirk rounded the last corner on the way to his and Spock’s neighboring quarters and directed himself to Spock’s door, pressing the door chime quickly and moving to straighten his command golds. If Spock were truly in distress, it wouldn’t serve either of them for Kirk to be a mess at his door. It also gave him something to do with his hands as he awaited an answer. After a moment, the door opened, revealing a seemingly undisturbed Spock, save for a nearly undetectable look of surprise somewhere between his angled brows.

“Captain? I find myself surprised at your arrival. Have we received further orders from the admiralty regarding Draylon II?” Spock inquired, seeming to bring even further severity to the angle of his posture and to begin mental preparation for another night of meeting unforeseen challenges in their journey through the stars. Kirk admired the way in which Spock dedicated himself so wholly to their crew, it often felt as though he was the only first officer in the ‘Fleet who could love and serve the Enterprise and her crew as much and as entirely as Kirk did, but in this moment, Kirk felt sorry for the almost imperceptible softness he had just scared away from Spock’s frame. It was not often that Spock let himself fully relax, and it had taken months for Kirk to see that slight relaxation in his shoulders during their more-than-weekly chess matches or time spent off shift alongside the bridge crew.

“No, no, Mr. Spock, my apologies. I’m not here on ship business– although I appreciate the reminder that I need to bother Komack about what is keeping the admiralty from giving us orders with the trade conference so rapidly approaching. Would you mind looking into any addresses made by Draylon II’s planetary leaders at the start of next Alpha shift? I’m going to see if I can draw any conclusions from intra-fleet communication,” Kirk responded, furrowing his expression, before remembering what had brought him to Spock’s door in the first place. “Anyways, Mr. Spock. I came because you left the bridge in a hurry today and I was worried that something might have caused you concern on shift– or otherwise,” Kirk inquired, quickly saving himself from seeming to concerned by joking, “Can’t have the best command team in the fleet working at anything less than our best, now can we?” Kirk shuffled slightly as he recovered, realizing with embarrassment how disproportionate his concern was beginning to seem to the situation at hand.

“Apologies are illogical, Captain. To your first point, I will search for any pertinent communications at the start of the next Alpha shift, in addition to contacting my father regarding the approaching conference. It is possible that in his role as Ambassador he has come across more information in discussion with other officials than we will find through more traditional research avenues. To your second point, I did not intend to cause concern with my exit from the bridge following Alpha shift. I was preoccupied by a development in a recent experiment and departed with greater speed than usual, so as to not miss any further development,” Spock finished, bringing a tinge of guilt to Kirk’s mind.

“Ah, very appropriate of you, Mr. Spock. As illogical as it may be, I apologize for interrupting any study you may have been making and I will leave you to it,” Kirk remarked, bracing himself for an awkward walk back towards the officer’s mess and recreation halls, where he was sure Uhura would be ready to make fun of him for his unnecessary worry-warting.

“Captain–” Spock began, raising his immaculate brows ever so slightly and bringing a pause to Kirk initiating his walk of shame. “If you have a moment, I would be available to share with you its preliminary findings.”

“Of course, Mr. Spock.” Kirk answered, confused at the apprehension that seemed to cross Spock’s face at his own offer and following the man into his quarters. As he followed Spock inside, Kirk braced himself for the familiarly comforting wall of heat. In recent weeks, he found himself offering just as often to come to Spock’s quarters for their chess matches as he volunteered to host them in his own, knowing that the heat must bring Spock considerable comfort in comparison to the comparable cold of the rest of the Enterprise. Kirk also couldn’t deny his own appreciation of the Vulcan’s quarters– they were warm in a way that he could only ever find comforting, but also tinged with a spicy aroma that was distinct to Spock, and covered in so much of Spock’s taste in interior design and personality that it felt remarkable to be allowed inside. He couldn’t think of an event in their budding friendship that had felt as vulnerable as when Spock first invited Kirk to meet in his quarters after a shift, knowing that the man kept the space primarily for his own solitary study and meditation. In all honesty, today felt no different than that first time, as Kirk found himself warmed that Spock wanted to share his findings with him, in his role as Captain or not.

As they reached a stop in Spock’s quarters, Kirk found himself brought before a moderately-sized, boxy glass structure filled with water and a number of brightly colored plants, drawn away from the beauty of the display by a tension in Spock’s frame. Upon further examination, Kirk believed the Vulcan to be distressed, but could only see a light akin to joy in his eyes.

“Dr. Tesfaye of the exobiology department was able to secure approval from the admiralty for… private study– of some of the lifeforms from Cambrius VI,” Spock explained with a tone Kirk might characterize as hesitant glee, if Spock were any more expressive in his tone.

“Wait a minute, are these the pets the Admiralty had me sign off on? Those bioluminescent minnows from that gorgeous ocean on Cambrius VI a couple of months back? The report said that they were found to be largely harmless and well-suited to solitary lives, when provided with regular periods of both light and darkness, because of the pattern of light refraction that affects the oceans of the planet, what with its angled revolution around its star. This is what you were so hurried to check in on after the shift today?” Kirk questioned, jovially.

“Yes, Captain,” Spock answered hesitantly, with a tension Kirk might choose to identify as bashfulness on any other, non-Vulcan, member of his crew. After a short, well-meaning laugh, Kirk set to put his first officer at ease, completely taken by this new side of Spock. The captain began to ask Spock about his study of the minnow, paying even more attention to the minute expressions on the Vulcan’s face than the information he rapidly relayed between questions. If Spock were more prone to emotional intonation, Kirk might label his speech a gleeful infodump, but out of respect for his first officer’s sensibility, he cataloged it in his brain as a key study in a new lifeform taking up residency on their ship.

After a time, Kirk paused the taller man to ask a question that he could not will from his brain without an answer, “Mr. Spock, thank you so much for sharing with me your study of a lifeform I was previously hesitant to approve for long-term residency on our ship and for sharing your detailed study with me, but I find myself with one important question left unanswered.”

“Yes, Captain?” Spock inquired, with a slight raise of his brow, seeming to take notice of the way in which Kirk had paused the Vulcan’s stream of information-sharing for this inquiry in particular, unlike with his other questions.

“What is your little friend’s name, Mr. Spock?” Kirk teased, delighting in the playful exasperation he found on Mr. Spock’s face, rather than the confusion or irritation that he might usually find at both his playful teasing and his assumption of a friendship between Spock and his ‘subject of study’. When had they reached this point of comfort with one another? Had Kirk been wrong to believe their friendship was only tentative? After all, only he had found concern in Spock’s behavior following the Alpha shift, and only he had been invited into Spock’s quarters to see Spock’s ‘subject of study’.

“Aristotle, Captain.” Spock responded, softly. Kirk was struck by what a feeling of trust emanated from such a simple response.

“Because of his study of bioluminescence in early terran history?” Spock gave a brief nod. “That’s a lovely choice, Mr. Spock. Thank you for sharing with me.”

“Yes, Captain,” Spock seemed to hesitate, bringing Kirk’s attention to the close stance they had accidentally assumed while leaning in beside one another to peer at little Aristotle. “I will update you on any relevant information I glean from my study of this species.” Spock finished, seeming to regain a sense of Vulcan propriety following such a period of relative excitement.

Kirk smiled softly, taking only a small step back from his First Officer, “I would appreciate that greatly, Mr. Spock. I will appreciate anything you choose to share with me about little Ari here.” Kirk recognized the natural conclusion of their meeting and his own hunger after having missed his usual period in the mess halls following his shift. “I’m afraid I must leave you to your study, as…” Kirk paused to think of a sufficient excuse, “some of my… duties after our shift today kept me from my usual dining period following our shift.”

Spock tilted his head down briefly in a nod and began to walk Kirk back towards his quarters’ exit. Pausing briefly as he went to open the door, Spock turned to the captain, “Sir?”

“Yes, Mr. Spock?”

“I would be gratified if you were to join me in my quarters following Alpha shift tomorrow. I believe that some… geologic materials I procured for Aristotle’s tank will be arriving and I plan to set them up for further study. Your company would be appreciated.”

Kirk couldn’t help the sunshine grin that overtook his face if he tried. “Of course, Mr. Spock. I would be happy to. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Leaving, Kirk felt all final tension from his earlier search exit his body. However, by his third turn on the way to the officer’s mess a new anxiety was rapidly creeping in. With Spock’s extensive knowledge of the last decade in marine exobiology findings and immense care for such a small creature, Kirk had reached his own terrifying conclusion: Spock was undeniably adorable, and Kirk now had less than a day to process that fact. Otherwise, his newly-discovered– although maybe not entirely new (that was a concern to process later)– taste for his first officer’s exobiology ramblings was going to cause him significant trouble the following evening. Uhura may have been more right than he was ready to admit.

#my favorite spirk trope? fact? is that kirk can read him better than anyone #I love the idea of them being so in love with each other so visibly before either of them have caught on #I think that theyre just two nerdy boys in love and that means that kirk is invested in spocks fish tank #spirk #k/s #pre relationship #the premise #star trek #this is very tos i think but im imagining either #tos star trek #aos star trek #spock #s'chn t'gai spock #james t kirk #jim kirk #kirk #enterprise shenanigans #my writing #spocks bf is boldly going

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bowieandqueen11 · 10 months

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Being Scotty’s Best Friend Would Include...

Request: I'm so excited you brought up Star Trek! I was wondering if you could do some hcs for having Scotty as a best friend. I'm such a big fan of your writing. I hope you're having a great day!

Oh my gosh I’m always here for a little Scotty love and it’s been far too long since I wrote for Star Trek! Thank you darling :)

Warning: mentions of drinking alcohol, and mentions of injury/needles!

(I do not own Star Trek or its characters, all rights go to creators. Gif credit goes to @whoophoney.)

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°

I love my Scottish icon so much but since he takes on literally 100% of the stress for keeping this beautiful old ship afloat, he is on the brink of an exhaustion induced mental breakdown 24/7. Sometimes you have to go down to Sickbay and rope Bones into helping you; the look of panic on Scotty’s face when the two of you step out of the turbo lift and come literally sprinting towards him is something behold. With only minimal squirming, the two of you manage to rope yourselves around his arms and drag him down to his room just to get a few hours of bloody sleep. You stay, flopping down on his sofa because you know Scotty too well, and in two jiffs he’d be making a beeline straight for those sliding doors again. Bones even decides he can finish off his last bits of paperwork in the corridor, helping you keep watch.

You and Scotty manage to finally come to a halfway point: he’ll stay in his room, but only if he can curl up onto the settee next to you, and fall asleep with his chin smushed against the side of your face. He has a massive crick in his neck when he wakes up the next morning, stretching his arms out past your head while you shake a glob of his slobber off your shoulder, but it’s worth it to see how bouncy he is back down in engineering.

Sometimes when things are a bit slower on the Enterprise the two of you will have drinking competitions down in his office. Chekov happens to wander past one afternoon, and comes in laughing when he spots you desperately trying to hold back your laughter as Scotty wiggles his eyebrows on you. He nearly jumps out of his seat in a fit of giggles when you accidentally spray half of the whiskey in your mouth out over his uniform, but poor Chekov decides to wander over to your desk right then and gets most of it on the side of his face.

To be completely honest, the joy the two of you bring to each other is so infectious, that most of the Enterprise’s crew seem to gravitate towards the two of you at one time or another. One night, you and Scotty were sitting in a couple of desk chairs in the recreation room, nothing but the pearls of picked starlight whirling in the open expanse behind your head to keep you company in the dim room. The two of you are trying to speak over each other, gossip and idle chatter passing easily between the two of you as you unwind after a very long week down main engineering. It’s a very chill, warm, and comforting vibe that Jim walks in to: your legs are slung over Scotty’s lap as you nod at whatever topic his mind has jumped onto now, and he stops every so often to over you his whiskey bottle and steal it back once you’ve taken a sip. Jim likes to just sit in the same room as the two of you, because the constant stream of familiar chatter immediately drowns out and calms the storm of anxiety that brews up slowly in his head.

This man has an absolutely abysmal sense of humour, and you adore it. The ship could be in the middle of an intense attack, sweat dripping down both your faces as you make a run to the engine, trying to stop a couple of the blades from spinning off in a fiery blaze that would destroy half the cabins. Despite you literally hauling his ass through a small shaft, your grip on his legs tenuous at best as you try to dangle some equipment out from the loops of your belt, Scotty decides it’s the best time to try and crack terrible jokes to alleviate the tension. Well, he says ‘tension’, but to be completely honest he knows how afraid you are, and it breaks his heart to think that he could die without even trying to help you.

Well, he tries to crack jokes until the ship lurches sideways, and then you’re dangling from the railings around the engine while Scotty holds onto your shoulders ‘scooby doo’ style.

This man is seriously, genuinely, incredibly protective over you. He sees you as his sibling: the closest thing he has to family (before he gets close to the rest of the crew as well), and so if he finds Spock to be a little too... demeaning towards you, even though he doesn’t mean to be, he will 100% shove you behind his back. The incorrectly filled out paperwork Spock was trying to hand back to you flutters down to the floor, and Spock raises an eyebrow in measured surprise as Scotty’s fingers encircle your wrist. Then the pointer finger comes out wagging, his mouth goes off running, and you’re pretty sure you can hear him yell ‘go ahead, fire me! You bet your arse you won’t be able to find two better engineers in all the universe, laddie!’

Spock, frozen in place and confused with the interaction, just turns his head to you and offers an apology once Scotty finally cools down a little. Once he heads back to the bridge to recount what happened to an incredibly amused Jim, Scotty’s tight grip onto your wrist turns into a bone crushing hug. He mutters his own sincere apologies for letting that happen into the top of your head, hefting your feet off the floor and spinning you around, his face burning red as his chin bumps against your forehead.

He has this little check in he likes to do with you (well, mainly to check in, but also to tease you a little in the proper brotherly fashion.) You know you should probably run away when he starts slinking over to where you’re tinkering with your wrenches, with a sly smile on his face. He’ll come leaning against the wall beside you, running the back of his knuckles down the side of your face fondly, before gently slapping the side of your cheek a couple of times. You always do your best to try and poke him on the shoulder back, but that little bugger is fast as lightening as he ducks away from you and runs down towards the corridor. Sometimes Bones has wandered tiredly into one of the medical supply closets, nearly being knocked down onto his ass as you run past him with a little goblin grin and a big wave. He should have known rightly, as he opens the door, that Scotty would be hiding in here. Scotty, however, is incredibly surprised, and falls down from the pipe he’s hanging onto from the ceiling down onto a stack of shelves.

Bones just sighs and heaves him up, his tricorder already out and scanning his head as he leads him down to Sickbay. He knows to get on his comms immediately and notify you because: 1) the two of you have this kind of sixth sense where you know when the other is in trouble, so you’re already perched on the edge of Len’s desk, immediately yelling at Scotty before the two of them have hobbled through the door. And 2) Scotty, like Jim, absolutely does his best to escape Sickbay at all costs and it drives Len insane, so he needs your help to keep him in his biobed. Bones does his best to stitch up the gash in Scotty’s leg as you loop your arm around his left and haul him back down. Between muffled swears, Scotty trying to jerk you off, and you patting the beads of sweat away from his forehead gently to comfort him, Scotty begins to ease into it.

I feel like the two of you would be the type to try and tease Jim any chance you got. Say, if there’s some huge ballroom event held down at base that the crew all go to? You and Scotty are definitely on the dance floor, having a competition to see who can stand on the other’s feet the most, and waltzing terribly back and forth in front of poor Jim and whoever he’s currently trying to hold a conversation with. Eventually he just gives up, and the two of you are beat in your terrible dancing only by Jim and Spock, who he’s managed to coax to the edge of the floor and is currently just doing a slow box step in place around Jim’s arms lmao.

Sometimes you’ll head back to your quarters after a long shift to find Scotty’s bent over behind greeting you. Turns out, once he turns around in surprise with a sheepish grin, that he has spent his break fixing bits and bobs around your room. Eh, there’s a few concerning bolts scattered around your floor, and your shower now has an extra knob that you’re far too terrified to turn, but he’s so sweet bless his heart. He gets this massive, sunshine filled, proud grin on his face when you thank him for helping out, and comes clambering over towards you to engulf you in a bear hug. He has a hard time telling the people that he cares about that he loves him, so acts of devotion are definitely this man’s love language. He’s just trying to show you how much he cares in the only way he knows how, so please squeeze your arms around his waist and grip onto the broad expanse of his back, because it’s the best way for him to understand that you return the sentiment.

The two of you usually spend your shore leave together: either the two of you find a random, deserted planet and do your best to spend the time curled up asleep on the shore of a serene beach, or he takes you back to Glasgow to visit Fran since she loves you so much.

He pretends, fervently, that he’s not incredibly dependent on you being around, but bruh. If the plans ever need to change, or you receive a message on your communication device about an emergency situation back at Starfleet you’re being sent for, Scotty will act really mopey and upset for the rest of the trip because he truly misses your company so much.

#star trek #star trek imagine #scotty #montgomery scott #scotty imagine #montgomery scott imagine #scotty x reader #montgomery scott x reader #scotty headcanons #montgomery scott headcanons #star trek headcanons #star trek tos #star trek aos

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lamelycool · 1 year

Text

Done All Wrong

Spock x FemReader

An: uh...this didn't quite go as expected so I'm sorry lol. By time noticed it was off subject it was too late soooo I deciced to go ahead and finish it. But don't worry I'm working on a fic more on subject to what you requested! 😭

Request: Spock x Reader where reader works under Spock and is terrified/attracted to him and thinks he hates her bc of his blunt Vulcan behavior? But in the end discovers he secretly is attracted to her and feels protective of her.

Warnings: embarrassing situations, anxiety, and some adult language.

Summary: You have a certain pointy earred alien on your mind for multiple reasons. You should hate him like he hates you but you can't bring yourself to. Much to your dismay and embarrassing moments ensue as a result.

You sigh staring at the specimen in front of you. A boring plain leafed plant from one of the recent expeditions. Ordinary nothing special. Quite lackluster and disappointing. Not someone anybody would care for. Someone? Gosh you need a break, this is getting sad. Projecting your angst on to a poor little plant is defiantly a new low. You shake your head and sigh running a hand over your face. A few of your fellow science officers send concerned glances your way. You flush slightly embarrassed.

'I need to get back to work,' you think. You know that you can't keep pushing of your work because of your silly angst. Especially since Sp- he would notice. 'Don't need to give him a reason to nag me.' Well not like you'd have to give him one. Lately it seems all he can do is nag and belittle you. Critiquing each and every little thing that you do. And yet you still lov-

"Ugggh, get it together lieutenant and stop acting like a child." You groan under your breath aggravated.

You pick up your pad and look at the plant to continue your observations. Aroma? Earthy and warm. Size? 11.9 inches. Form? Stalky lean. Leaf shape? Spatulate. Flower color? You lean forward, silly black blossom. Your heart races but you take a deep breath and continue. Leaf color? A lovely shade of green. It reminds you of the faint flush of-

"Is everything alright?"

"!" You let out a gasp and whip around. And of course wouldn't you know it, it's the last person you'd want to see. The object of your frustration and affections, Spock.

Spock's eyebrow twitches up. "My apologies I did not intend to frighten you."

"No! No it's fine. I just wasn't expecting you to just show up so sudden is all..." You put a hand over your racing heart. You can feel your cheeks burn with embarrassment. You wish you could just disappear right now. Maybe if you ju-

"Lieutenant, are you well? You have been distracted since you arrived for your shift. Aswell as your excessive sighing and your flush cheeks. Are you sick? If so I will have to implore you to go to sick bay." Spock admonishes you.

"I- I am not sick! I admit I'm distracted but...It's not- I'm not sick." You stammer. You can't believe he's calling you out like this, so loud and very public. It's humiliating. Your can't even look him in the eyes anymore. Because you're certain if you did he'd peer into your mind and learn as to why you been so distracted. You'd rather die then for him to find out. He's already cruel enough. Gosh, how could this get any worse?

And you to your horror you realize, quite easily is the answer. While avoiding his burning yet apathetic gaze you notice your coworkers glancing at the scene. Judging and knowingly. Some whispering, some pointing. They all know. They know why. They can tell. Your feelings. Oh my god...Oh god...Oh god-

Spock either doesn't notice your panic or doesn't care because he continues to chew you out. "Are you certain? Because it appears you are flushing even worse now. But if you are not sick would you care to explain your actions? Particularly talking to the plant you are supposed to be inspecting. That is certainly not an action a healthy and sane person would take. Perhaps you need to see a counselor or be reliev-"

"Just stop!" You snap you can't help it. You're so overwhelmed. Everything is too much. All the eyes looking at you. And him. Why does he have to hate you so much. Why... Oh god and now you've yelled at him! You've just made this into an even bigger scene. Thank god there's not too many people in the labs this late at night. But everyone will soon hear about this...oh god you're fucked.

You begin to tear up. You look into his eyes finally. His eyebrows are raised almost holding an expression of shock and maybe concern? Who are you kidding as if he could care. Even if he could care he'd definitely not care for you.

"Why? Why do you hate me so...so-" you're cut off by a small cry that escapes. You quickly throw a hand over your mouth to stop any more from escaping. Tears begin to run down your face. You panic, you need to get out as soon as possible and spare yourself any further embarrassment. You dash out of the labs. Leaving behind a shocked and confused Spock.

°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°••~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°

"I simply do not understand why she was upest."

"You don't understand why she was upset? You don't- My god how could someone so smart be so stupid!" Leonard McCoy exclaims exasperated.

"You think that I am smar-"

"That is not the point you pointy eared hobgoblin! Goodness gracious...look." McCoy sighs and leans forward in his seat giving Spock a tired glare.

"You insulted and embarrassed the poor girl in front of all her lab rat coworkers. Hell if I was her I would have done a whole lot more to you then shout and cry. I'd give ya what for." McCoy states plainly punching his palm with his clenched fist.

"I see...it was not my intention to embarrass her nor do I hate her."

"You don't?" McCoy looks at him in disbelief.

"What? Of course I do not hate her nor harbor any ill intentions towards her."

"Goodness Spock... you sure have a way of showing it. Look, I talk to her. We're close and let me tell ya you've been giving her some hell. Ya leave her as ill as a hornet. If you don't hate her then why do ya insist on angering and embarrassing that poor little lady?"

"I- I was unaware I was angering or embarrassing her." Spock says quietly eyebrows furrowed and slightly lowered. Truly he would never wish to upset you. He just wants the best for you and to help you be the best you can be.

"My god...you like her don't you? Heh... Spock you're in deep." McCoy laughs at Spock's expense.

"Please do not tease me. What should I do?"

"Your asking ME for advice? I never thought I'd see the day. My my my you do have it bad."

Spock gets up to leave but is stopped my McCoy's hand that pushes him back into his seat. "Yer not goin anywhere. Sit right there I'm gonna grab some drinks. We're gonna need it."

•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°•~°

"You've got five minutes to explain." You snap at him while leaning in your doorway.

Spock nods, " I am deeply sorry. It was not my intention to anger you or to embarrass you. Nor do I hate you, it is quite the opposite. I- I deeply enjoy your company and I find you fascinating. You make me feel although I do not know how to show it. But I will endeavor to do better if you could forgive me? And if you return my feelings?"

You stand in shock. There is no way this is really happening. "Pinch me."

"No, why would I wish to harm you? Did I not explain well enough I do not wish any form of harm or discomfort to you?" Spock says looking offended and confused.

"Nonono sorry, its just an expression. I just can't believe this is real. I must be dreaming."

"Dreaming?"

"Yes, because there is no way that this is real. That you're basically confessed to liking me and asking me out! No, its too crazy..."

"You are not dreaming. And yes I do 'like you'. I also would not mind if you would allow me to court you."

"I-I really?"

"Indeed." Spock looks at you. Wondering if he's made a mistake. Perhaps you don't feel the same? Or he's hurt you too much. Or any other reason.

"Yes! I mean, yes. I would like that very much. I've liked you for awhile now. Um but just please try not to be so mean?" You say with a bright beaming smile.

"Of course." Spock nods seriously.

"Can I please hug you? I'm just so happy!"

Spock nods and stoops down to wrap you in a gentle hug. You wrap yourself up in his lanky form. Maybe the plant is loveable after all.

@yoursparkdoll @lucycola

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