#Just been informed it's Spones

[montysoup]

Giving Spock a love interest is like giving a billionaire 10 pounds. You're not really helping out any and they've already got a shit ton of money.

[spirk-kink-meme]

So I was thinking about that Rifftrax'ed part of Star Trek V The Undiscovered Country, wherein Spock says "Please, Captain, not in front of the Klingons," to which Kevin Murphy adds "But if I ever get you in front of the Romulans I will shake the paint off your walls."

Clip here if you're not familiar with it (links will be removed in anonymous asks apparently so just paste this after tumblr dot com) /chungle-nugget/628287691072651264/lacefuneral-spones-im-trying-to-make-gifs-of

And I was thinking: Established relationship. They're staying somewhere (off ship?) and they realize wherever they are has been bugged by Romulans who are spying on them. Because they're already together they have a bond and can communicate without speaking, so they chat mentally, like, OK, we shouldn't say anything we don't want them to know, but we also don't want them to know we know we're being listened to- and so it may also be an opportunity to feed the Romulans false information.

How can they make it seem like they don't think they're being spied on? Have noisy sex, talk about fake missions (or whatever false info they want to spread), have more noisy sex. Because obviously if they thought they were being listened in on, they wouldn't have sex, right?

Initially they do this as subterfuge but they end up really getting into it (including Jim saying kinda praise-kink-y things, knowing it'll all go on record somewhere, and Spock at first is kind of shy about this but then finds it hot).

here is a clickable link for the curious https://www.tumblr.com/chungle-nugget/628287691072651264/lacefuneral-spones-im-trying-to-make-gifs-of

[lenievi]

Spones Day 2023 fic

Canon divergent universe where TMP never happened. Takes place a few years before TWOK (but if TWOK happens is in the stars). Kirk has retired from Starfleet (just so you’re not confused), because I like that tidbit from Generations.

#McCoy didn’t know they were dating #first kiss #strangely proactive Spock

~1000 words. | G

---

The door to the Transporter Beam-up Center opened, and mixed groups of various species started to come out. McCoy moved to the side to not stand in their way, his eyes scanning the crowd for Spock’s familiar face. It was a few minutes before he heard, “Doctor McCoy.”

McCoy startled. “I need to buy you a cowbell.”

Spock lifted an eyebrow at him. “You’ve been saying that for years, Doctor, and I’m still waiting.” He raised his hand, fingers spread in a Vulcan salute. “We meet again.”

McCoy blinked and looked at his hand. His third finger quivered as he tried to connect it with the fourth one, hoping to form a V, but with no success. He gave up, shaking his fingers a bit, relieving the slight pain in his ring finger. One day, one day, he would succeed.

Spock held out his hand, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement. 

McCoy glared at him. “You could’ve done it from the beginning.” He clasped Spock’s hand, soaking in the warmth he hadn’t felt for three months. “How was the trip?” He let go.

“Commanding a ship full of cadets on their training voyage is hardly a trip, Doctor.”

“You visited Vulcan before that, didn’t you?”

Spock gave a stiff nod. “Sarek sends his regards.” He beckoned toward the exit. “Shall we?”

Spock led him to a nearby restaurant.

Even after three years, it still felt odd whenever Spock invited him out. Sometimes to a science or technical museum, sometimes to a restaurant, sometimes to an arboretum. Just the two of them. If anyone had told him that ten years ago, five years ago, hell, even three years ago, he would scoff and tell them not to drink anymore. But Spock kept reaching out, and McCoy kept saying yes.

“Have you spoken to Jim recently?” McCoy asked after they ordered. He kept his eyes on the tabletop, not wanting to see Spock’s judging expression.

“Not since before my trip to Vulcan,” Spock said. “He acquired a dog.”

McCoy raised his head. “Jim has a dog?”

“His name is Butler.”

McCoy blinked.

“You would know that if you called him,” Spock said, his eyes piercing.

“Well…” McCoy wet his lips. “He could call me.”

“You informed him rather vehemently you didn’t want to see him unless he comes out of retirement.”

“You can’t tell me you think he can just live on a farm in Idaho and be happy.”

“That is not for us to judge.” Spock sipped his tea. “He appears to miss you.”

McCoy’s stomach did a funny flip. He reached for his glass of water and clasped it in both hands. His argument with Jim was ugly, and they hadn’t seen or talked to each other for two years.

“So, uhm…” he started but was saved by the waiter bringing their meals. The plates were placed, and McCoy grabbed the utensils. He should not think about Jim. Spock had always made it clear that they should resolve it themselves and did not wish to discuss it.

“It’s good to see you, Spock,” he said instead.

Spock smiled. 

They dug into their meals.

“My father offered me to work with him and accompany him to Ensis,” Spock said between bites.

McCoy frowned. “You want to leave Starfleet?”

“It would not immediately come to that, but it is an option I am considering.”

First Jim. Now Spock. McCoy had stayed in San Francisco because he wanted to stay close to them. Then Jim left. He stayed because Spock would have someone welcoming him back whenever he left on a training voyage. He stayed because… because he… 

He swallowed.

“I wanted to ask for… your opinion,” Spock said, his eyes focused somewhere behind McCoy’s shoulders. 

“My opinion?” McCoy put down his utensils. He didn’t feel hungry anymore.

“I have… always appreciated your company, Doctor.” Spock frowned. “Leonard.”

McCoy's heart skipped. He didn’t remember the last time Spock used his name.

“In the last three years, perhaps before that, the appreciation evolved, changed.” Spock looked him in the eyes. “I do not enjoy the thought of not seeing you for months.”

McCoy didn’t know what to say. His mind was flying at warp speed. The almost realization a minute ago. Every time Spock invited him to go somewhere. Every time McCoy invited Spock to his apartment, sharing meals, cooking together. The soft brushes of their shoulders, as they passed each other in McCoy’s narrow kitchen. The soft brushes of the back of their hands, as they walked down the streets or halls of the museums. Spock’s fingers on his elbow, demanding his attention. So common, so frequent that he didn’t even notice them anymore.

“Are we dating, Spock?” McCoy blurted out.

“As there hasn’t been an official agreement, we are not.”

“Do you want to?” McCoy asked before he could think about it.

The tips of Spock’s ears darkened. “That was the matter I wanted to discuss today. In order to answer my father’s offer, I first needed an answer from you.”

“Why?”

“I have already told you. I would have… missed you.”

McCoy could not hold back his smile, his cheeks growing hot.

“If you did not answer positively, creating a physical distance between us would be a logical thing to do.”

“The distance wouldn’t help,” McCoy murmured.

“Perhaps.” Spock inclined his head. “But it appears we do not have to test it.”

“But your father –”

“My father is aware.”

McCoy opened his mouth and closed it. “You…” He wet his lips. “You talked about us with Sarek?” Us. There was an us.

“My father thinks highly of you,” Spock said. “Mother too. She’d like it if you accompanied me next time I visit Vulcan.”

McCoy blinked.

“You don’t have to give me an answer today.” Spock bit his lower lip. McCoy hadn’t seen that habit in years. “But I would like to kiss you.”

McCoy nodded, lost for words. His heart beat loud in his ears. He raised his hand.

Spock leaned across the table and pressed their lips together.

[aurumacadicus]

1 FOR SPONES *rabies noises*

I just think that Spock should be able to punch Jim for Leonard once. As a treat.

--

Leonard had not originally been one of the few Starfleet medical officers who was privy to the biology of Vulcans. He hadn’t cared at the time. Spock had imparted the basics of how to treat him in the rare event of injury, and that had been enough for him.

Things had changed since then, Spock thought, hands placed on either side of Leonard’s head as he kept him crowded against the wall to his room. Leonard had started looking at the muted creams and browns of his wings speculatively. He’d put a replicated cup of coffee at Spock’s elbow sometimes, no matter the time of day. His blue feathers would ruffle in approval whenever Spock said something positive to him, although no one was stupid enough to bring attention to it.

Leonard had learned enough about Vulcans on his own to figure out how to turn his courtship bobbing into the bowing that Spock’s people preferred, and Spock had ruffled his feathers at him in acquiescence.

Things had changed, Spock thought, metal creaking ominously under his hands.

“I thought you weren’t due pon farr for a few more years,” Leonard finally said, throat bobbing with a hard swallow.

It was distracting. Spock found himself having to tear his gaze from the nervous up-and-down of Leonard’s Adam’s apple as if it physically pained him, eyes lingering on the other man’s lips as his tongue darted out to wet them. “There are so few Vulcans in Starfleet that they don’t yet have regulations for this. So far, the expected action is for me to discreetly tell the captain of my ship so that I may take medical leave. I am asking whether you will be joining me for the duration, so I can best plan for the extent of my removal from duty.”

Leonard looked down between their bodies uncertainly. “Would it be safe?”

“Doctor,” Spock said, fighting the urge to grit his teeth. He’d hoped that using the honorific would make his mind realize that he still needed to show restraint, that his pon farr hadn’t actually started yet. It didn’t work. “I assure you my mother was never injured in her relationship with my father.”

“Okay,” Leonard said quickly, uncharacteristically agreeable. “I just—would it be, like. The same as always, or. I don’t know what goes on during pon farr. So. I mean, the literature just… literally isn’t there. For me to read.”

Spock couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at him skeptically. “If you need the literature to make an informed decision, I can let you borrow some of my files,” he finally said, slowly, as if he’d be able to parse Leonard’s feelings any better if he gave himself more time to watch him. Leonard just nodded in response, though, a touch frantically even. “It will not be the same as always,” he added, because while Leonard would learn that in the files Spock sent him, he could cut through that expectation quickly now. “This is a biological imperative to mate. There is nothing slow or intimate about it. I will not be the receiving partner. If you join me, I will be taking what I need.”

It took Spock a moment to realize that he’d drastically miscalculated. He watched, stunned, as Leonard pulled his bottom lip between his teeth the way he always did when Spock did something that he found attractive but knew Spock wouldn’t understand his reasoning. His pupils dilated. His weight shifted from foot to foot, making their bodies brush together in a way that made something primal and possessive thrum happily. Leonard wasn’t frightened of him. He didn’t find Spock’s pon farr-driven desires confusing or repulsive.

He was aroused.

“Leonard,” Spock said carefully, proud of how level and calm his voice sounded even as the metal panels under his fists creaked and crumpled further. “Your eyes are already saying yes. Now, I just need your mouth to tell me the same. This is important. I need your verbal confirmation.”

Leonard sucked in a deep breath, finally dragging his gaze away to stare at something behind him. “I have to say it?”

“Yes. I need to hear the words,” Spock answered, even though he felt guilty for forcing the point. Leonard had difficulty asking for what he wanted, to the point that he’d just give up on it. He hadn’t been able to ask Spock to be intimate; instead, he’d let his raised wings and quivering feathers do the talking for him. He’d learned, later in their relationship, that Leonard didn’t like leaving himself vulnerable. Giving voice to his wants gave someone the opportunity to hurt him. And Spock understood. The ripples of hurt from his divorce still sometimes made Leonard physically flinch.

“Please,” Spock whispered. There was only a hint of desperation in his voice. He needed to hear a yes. He needed to hear Leonard consent with words. Otherwise, once his neurochemicals stabilized again, he’d feel like a monster. He needed to know that Leonard understood what this meant.

Leonard’s wings fluttered, and Spock felt his heart sink into a pit in his stomach. He wouldn’t be able to accept a flaring of wings, a quivering of feathers. He needed the words.

“I,” Leonard began, eyes dropping to the floor.

“It’s okay, Leonard,” Spock told him gently. He tried to force his hands to relax, but the metal had warped around his fingers.

Leonard slanted a look up at him out of the corner of his eye. Then he turned to face him again, chin jutting up, jaw clenched. “Yes.”

Spock blinked, surprised. It took a moment for it to really register. “Yes?” he repeated, and he could hear the thread of wonder in his own voice.

“This is my mouth agreeing with my eyes. Yes,” Leonard answered, and there was the irritation Spock was used to. “Are you going to make me say it in Vulcan? Ha.”

“Fuck,” Spock breathed, and Leonard’s wings finally flew up, eyes wide and surprised at his overwhelmed curse even as his feathers quivered invitingly. “You can tell Jim later.”

“Oh yeah?” Leonard began, sounding immensely pleased with himself.

Spock pulled his hands free of the wall with the sound of more metal crumpling, followed by the faint ‘fzzt’ of something electrical, so he could hook his hands under Leonard’s thighs and haul him up against his body, forcing Leonard to wrap his legs around his waist. For good measure, he threw his wings back to mirror Leonard’s, so he had no doubt what was about to happen.

Leonard let out a quiet, sort of… swooning noise, hips hitching forward into Spock’s stomach once, twice—before he fell limp in Spock’s arms.

.-.

“God, this could only happen to you,” Jim said, trying not to look delighted and failing, as Chapel used a tricorder to check the extent of the abrasions on Leonard’s head.

Spock considered what he could say to get Jim to stop teasing him as quickly as possible. He watched as Leonard swatted at Chapel’s hand irritably and got his own slapped away in response. He swallowed the desire to growl at her for hurting his prospective mate. “Captain. I fear I have miscalculated the timing of my… requested leave.”

“Aw,” Jim answered immediately, frowning. “Well, now I feel bad about teasing you. Well, Bones’s still here.” He swiveled. “Did you really get so horny you passed out?”

Leonard’s wings flew up in a threat display. “Shut up, Jim.” Jim opened his mouth, and Leonard growled, “Shut up, Jim.”

“Huh?” Jim began, then turned.

It was only as Jim’s eyes met his that Spock realized his hand was up to give him a nerve pinch. “…My apologies, Captain,” he said, but even to his own ears, he didn’t sound apologetic at all.

“Ah. Well,” Jim said, taking a careful step away from him. “Anyway. Just send me the dates and—” He paused, then smirked, glancing back at him. “Shall we add a week’s leave for Bones to physically recover?”

“Kill him, Spock,” Leonard said, and Chapel nodded approvingly.

It took two steps for Spock to get control of himself again, and he allowed himself a moment to scowl as he turned and left the sickbay to return to his room. He flapped his wings as he went, knowing his span would accidentally knock into Jim, and he couldn’t help the thrum of pride that went through him when Leonard out a crow of vindicated laughter as Jim let out a squawk and slammed into the opposite wall.

[calliecat93]

After a particularly long and stressful day in Sickbay, McCoy is exhausted. After hours of dealing with crew members with minor and major injuries and several surgeries back to back, he's barely had a chance to so much as sit down for longer than a few minutes. By the time beditme comes around, with so many patients still in Sickbay who need to be monitored, he's not planning to leave anytime soon. Even with Chapel rested and urging him to go to bed already, he won't listen. Thus, she calls Spock.

Spock finds McCoy already dozing off midway through writing his report and carefully wakes him to take him back to their quarters. McCoy tries to say that he's fine, but doesn't even have the energy to open his eyes, let alone stand. It's only when Spock breaks down how in his condition he will be less than effective at providing any kind of treatment, especially in an emergency ("Damned Vulcan logic...") that he finally gives up. He's already starting to doze back off before barley giving Spock the okay. Spock scoops him up, informs Chapel that the situation is resolved, and heads back to their quarters.

McCoy, half-asleep and in a daze, doesn't even complain about being bridal carried through the ship. It just feels so nice, after everything, to have Spock there, and he just cuddles into him and lightly kisses his neck and ears. He doesn't let go when they finally get to their quarters and Spock promises to not get up, as long as he sleeps. McCoy stays cuddled up close as Spock rubs his back with two fingers and plants a light human kiss on his temple before the doctor falls asleep. Spock had planned to resume the work he'd been doing prior to the call... but as McCoy has him incapacitated and has a history of being illogically stubborn, it is best for him to remain put and make sure that he actually sleeps the recommended hours that a healthy human needs. It's only logical to take care of the Doctor, after all.

Aka, I wanted to put some Spones softness in the world so there you go.

[strangenewwords]

WIP Wednesday

tagged by the lovely @kcscribbler regarding the WIP's I'm currently working on.

Hahahahah OH MY GOD THERE'S SO MANY.

Also I have a new rule where I write chaptered fics in full before publishing because that'll take the pressure off yay.

I think the two that are most prominent in my mind (other than McSpirk Month, and the handful of amazing ideas y'all inject into my brain) are impulse, my role-swapped Spirk, and emotionally compromised, my super whumpy Spones/Spirk/McKirk (It really is all of those things separately). That one turned into a fucking UNIVERSE thanks to @ncc1701ohno.

IMPULSE

The sound of voices carries from around a row of plants. Orchids. It’s the first moment he’s noticed them, dozens of them kept in fastidious arrangement. Leaning forward Jim makes to reach for the closest one, the tips of the fingers of his right hand just barely brushing against the silk of the petals. 

“Please, do not touch them.” Spock’s directive comes as he steps around the corner, hands clasped as always behind his back.

He looks different than Jim’s ever seen him. He’s draped in robes, but they’re not the formal things he wears to official gatherings or the stark tunics of their uniforms. He looks good. Almost vibrant. Vulcans exist with a line of tension that runs through them, like being strung up by piano wire, and Spock’s has been cut. As a result, his shoulders are slightly more rounded and the cant of his chin is not quite as sharp.

“Sorry.” Jim steps back from the plant, offering a gentle curving of his mouth. “They’re beautiful.” 

Spock stops before him, a professional distance away, and observes the orchid Jim had just barely grazed as if checking for damage.”It is of no concern.” Satisfied, he straightens. “It does not appear to have been harmed.

It was obviously of some concern, or Jim could have kept on petting the damn thing. Instead of pointing that out, Jim just puts his hands in his pockets.

Oh neat, he’s got pockets. He’s wearing jeans. He hasn’t worn a pair of those since he’d been enlisted in Starfleet.

EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED

“Tush ah nask dey kod lu.” Nope. That wasn’t right. “Turshah naz va koddle.” Okay, so Leonard's not doing well at this.

He swallows rough, feeling it as red rushes up his neck. Sarek, for his part, remains patient and unbothered, waiting for Leonard to get it right.

It takes a moment to psych himself up as he repeats the words in his head yet again before trying a final time. “Tushah nash-veh k'odu.” Each is spoken with precise articulation, fighting against the gentle curves of his accent, and it takes all of Leonard’s failing brain power but he gets it.

He thinks.

Sarek inclines his head lightly, reaching for the tea which has been set out before him. 

“As you are of my house, the informal is more fitting.” Leonard isn’t. Not yet. It makes something in him twist for Sarek to already consider him so. “Tushah nash-veh k'du.”

“Tushah nash-veh k'du,”  Leonard repeats, that same fierce intention focused on each and every syllable.

“And I grieve with you, Dr. McCoy.” Sarek sips at the tea and, well, he doesn’t pull a face. But Leonard can see the tiny tightening at the corner of his mouth. He’s gotta be exhausted or Leonard knows nothing would escape at all.

tagging @twinkboimler, @ncc1701ohno, @introvertia, @flippyspoon and @spock-in-awe in a totally non pressure way to see what y'all are up to (because we all know it's gonna be amaaaazing).

[swimmingwolf59]

Spock + 9, 21, 24

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

I feel like spock would be a chill roommate. Like we'd have our own spaces but could still chat about stuff and just kinda quietly coexist. I would love that. I don't know if I could handle McCoy and Kirk just walking in all the time tho LOL

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I loveeeee writing Spock's telepathy! It's a very fun way to write Spock gaining information from others, finding comfort from McCoy, and it presents a unique challenge writing like the mind scape I guess you could call it lol of when he's melded with someone. I've never written anything like that before, and it's a lot of fun!

I like writing his dialogue a TON, but sometimes I have trouble figuring out what words to use for him like my go to idioms don't work for him LOL

24. What other character from another fandom of yours reminds you of them?

This is an interesting question! Too bad I've forgotten all media I've ever consumed ever 8D

Joking aside, while not fully similar, I always thought Kambe and Kato had a very spones-like relationship in millionaire detective. Like Kambe's all "the world works this way therefore this this and this" and Kato's like "no I'm going to throw myself off this bridge to save this person we're trying to arrest fuck you". Not the greatest analogy since it's been a while since I've watched it LOL, but yeah!

[character ask game]

[ansicred]

Art + Television

Art, like anyone else, loves his TV Shows... He just takes that passion for the medium into a whole new stratosphere, particularly with certain television shows and Sci-Fi.

His first love, obviously, is The Sooty Show. It was the first show he remembers ever watching and he's been a fan since the episode "Sooty's Clock Shop" (airing on October 16th 1966) when the original 'handler'/puppeteer for Sooty, Harry Corbett would appear on screen beside the mischievous little bear. In the 80s (during the story's setting), Art is still a huge fan of the show and enjoys Matthew being alongside Sooty, Sweep, and Soo just as much as he did Harry - by 2023, he's not watched much of the newer episodes of the show, preferring to watch older episodes and Sooty & Co., but he still appreciates them. His favourite of the puppets is, of course, Sooty himself and he's cemented this love of the character by having a tattoo of the bear's ears & nose on his left forearm. Art owns a lot of Sooty memorabilia/merchandise (especially by 2023) but his most prized possession is a Sooty hand-puppet that he was given to by Frank, James, and Tim on his 23rd birthday. He's since modified his Sooty into a little punk and uses him as a mascot on stage (and, occasionally, in music videos).

His second love is Doctor Who. It's another show that he has early memories of and his first Doctor was Patrick Troughton (the second) - his favourite Doctor, however, was Jon Pertwee (the third). It's a show that he's always admired the sets, costumes, and stories of, and would often be picturing himself on adventures through time & space with The Doctor and their companions. It saddens him that he can't watch the show as much as he would like because of the touring and work, but he'll go out and buy tapes when he's finally at home so he can catch up. By 2023, of course, he has access to the internet and streaming, so he will often spend off-time on tours glued to a tablet while he watches the show. Art's favourite Doctors from the nuwho revival are David Tennant (tenth/fourteenth), Peter Capaldi (twelfth), and Jodie Whittaker (thirteenth) and particularly enjoys the more comedic episodes. Like with The Sooty Show, Art's knowledge on the show is unrivalled and he has a huge collection of Doctor Who memorabilia/merchandise. His prized Who item is probably a TARDIS model he'd gotten for Christmas from James, which he (still) keeps on a mantelpiece in his living room.

Speaking of Sci-Fi... You can't grow up in the 60s and not be aware of Star Trek -- and Art is a huge Trekkie. He likes to see himself in Spock in particular, even if his bandmates would refer to him as the James T. Kirk of Odd Foxes, because he relates to Leonard Nimoy's portrayal of the character. If had known a) that he was autistic and b) what headcanoning was back in the day, Art probably would have headcanoned Spock as being autistic, based purely on the way he sees himself in that character. He may not be a housewife but Art does ship. In fact, it's the only show where he does anything remotely fandom-esque -- and his main ship is Spones because he likes their chemistry the most, and, well, Bones McCoy is his second favourite character. He doesn't have as much memorabilia for Trek as he does the other two, but he does own a modest (for him) collection, including a model of the original USS Enterprise given to him by Tim.

Although he has an exhaustive list of other favourites, particularly in the cult Sci-Fi genre, those three subjects are guaranteed to get Artie excited. James once said in a magazine interview that if someone needed to know anything about any of the three shows that Art was the "go-to" man for the information on them... Provided they were as patient as James is about Art's info-dumping about them, of course.

[skimblyspones]

No but an interesting aspect to the spones dynamic in Friday’s Child isn’t just that amazing hand-cheating scene, but also just. The conceit of the episode. That of the three, it’s Bones who knows this alien culture, and knows it well. Bc, as we know, he doesn’t Get Vulcans. He doesn’t understand them and he’s made uncomfortable by their culture, most likely because he doesn’t know its intricacies (there’s also the added factor of Spock being half-human while taking every opportunity to shittalk humans, and he seems to be Bones’ main avenue to Vulcans. So we see him get confrontational and xenophobic abt Vulcans, but this is also often in the context of him and Spock sparring words, where most of the time they seem on the same page). So now we get a Bones who isn’t just open to but actively, deeply aware and respectful of an alien culture in a way that he isn’t with Vulcans.

There’s one episode between Friday’s Child and Amok Time in terms of production; Amok Time coming after. Bones is one of the first to know Spock’s behaving strangely. He goes to Vulcan; he is honored to be invited to the surface by Spcok. He sees most of the ceremony. Vulcan is no longer this vague alien thing represented solely through Spock. There’s still a whole lot he doesn’t know or understand, he was on the planet for less than a day. But he’s now seen Vulcan as a planet; as a people; as a culture.

Journey to Babel was produced well after Friday’s Child (they are 12 episodes apart). In Journey to Babel, Bones shows interest in the Vulcan salute, tries to imitate it, and considers attempting it again for Sarek before putting his hand back down. His comments are also far less barbed when made, but this could also be because, you know. They are literally hosting The Vulcan Ambassador. But there’s an effort there. An attempt to learn what he doesn’t know and be respectful.

...And then Immunity Syndrome happens a few episodes later. A full vessel of Vulcans dies, and Spock is noticeably overwhelmed with the telepathic connection/severance, and with the ensuing grief. And he and Bones fall out of sync. In his distress, Bones ushers him to Sickbay. There are some usual quips about ineffable Vulcan anatomy, which don’t get a response, but then the disconnect becomes clear. Bones is trying to understand what’s going on; he doesn’t understand how Vulcans tick; what he thought were the rules for telepathic connection aren’t carrying through here. And 400 instantaneous deaths strains human comprehension.

But the way he approaches the topic is in his typical fashion; that is, he words it confrontationally. “Not even a Vulcan could feel a starship die.” And because we’ve gotten to know McCoy, we can probably, safely assume that he’s not trying to be like “You’re lying, the starship didn’t die,” so much as “This is new information to me, and I am struggling to comprehend the scope of what’s happened.” But Spock literally just experienced 400 simultaneous deaths and is, shockingly, Not In The Mood, and reads it as invalidation. And the hurt is p obvious in his voice. So Bones clarifies with “But 400 Vulcans?” Spock picks up now that it’s not disbelief of his experiences but a struggle to swallow what has happened, but he’s still hurt and grieving, and turns it into an attack on humans, as well as a specific call out towards McCoy’s usual comments abt Vulcans as unemotional.

McCoy isn’t the only one aboard to make these comments, and usually no matter who says it, Spock is able to understand the context and that it’s usually said without active malice. But he’s hurting, and Bones is here, struggling to understand the depth of loss, and what better time to release your resentment over your crewmates’ favorite joke than when your hurt seems to be being ignored? “You speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart. Yet how little room there seems to be in yours.” Bones has often been the one to worry about large-scale loss of life. Bones is a doctor. He already has to compartmentalize death. He never planned on joining a branch of the military where combat and death are more likely to happen. And now 400 Vulcans have died. He is not heartless. But Spock is grieving, and the two have generally tended toward callousness toward each other.

McCoy lets the comment sit until Spock is almost out the door, offering a small parry of “Suffer the deaths of thy neighbor, eh, Spock? You wouldn’t wish that on us, would you?” It’s a gentle pushback to be understood in the way they talk to each other. It’s, “I understand, in theory, what it is you’re going through. It’s true that I can’t fathom it. I validate that this is a horrible experience to go through. However, it’s not fair to call me heartless because I can’t fully understand your experience.”

And Spock, still hurting, answers by playing dumb to what McCoy was primarily angling at, instead saying “It might have rendered your history a bit less bloody.” He is not backing down on his claim about humans’ capacity of grief and feeling. He is not in the mood for a back and forth. So McCoy leaves it there.

In general, Spock is able to collect himself after this. Instead, we get Bones in a more agitated-than-usual state in the episode. He’s had his capacity of dedication challenged. Going out into the giant organism is a scientific opportunity, yes, but Spock is also a Science Officer and, as he mentions in the episode, knows how to use the Life Science equipment. Bones is not so stubborn as for his indignation over Spock being chosen to be solely based on missing out on a chance at glory.

Anyway. Back on the topic of what I meant for this post to be out, that being a small arc in terms of Spones and Bones’ approach to Vulcan culture.

The confrontation in front of the Shuttle launch bay. Bones covering the control pad. And first of all just. “You’re determined not to let me share in this, aren’t you?”  UGH that line kills me. As I mentioned before, I don’t think Bones is so thick-headed as for that to just be about scientific discovery; he’s talking abt the risk to self;  specifically the risk to self in order to help the crew at large. His compassion as a doctor has been challenged and it hurts (and also bc Spones--they never want the other to be the one at risk). But Spock isn’t backing off, specifically wrt the aftermath of The Intrepid’s loss. He wants to make up for it. It’s not just his pride or his self image, it’s about righting a wrong done to his people.

“Whether you understand it or not, grant me my own kind of dignity.”

“Vulcan dignity? How can I grant you what I don’t understand?”

He’s still being defensive, but. He removes his hand from the panel as he starts to speak. He’s giving Spock the chance to leave. And he doesn’t outright refuse Spock’s request, but reiterates his issue that started their miscommunication in the episode: He Doesn’t Understand Vulcans. He doesn’t say “what do Vulcans need with Dignity” or “Isn’t pride a forbidden emotion on Vulcan,” something to that effect. He literally doesn’t understand how to give what’s being asked.

“Then employ one of your own superstitions. Wish me Luck.”

And now Bones’ genuine statement that he can’t do what’s asked of him because he doesn’t know how is met with a genuine compromise. There’s no diminishing of the human culture of wishing someone else Luck; there’s no implication that wishing him Luck is an inferior behavior but will still “do”. McCoy has admitted that he doesn’t know what to do, and Spock offers him an option; he bridges their gap in comprehension.

And, of course, as we know, Bones is a petty bitch and doesn’t wish Spock luck until the Vulcan can no longer hear him, giving the later “Tell Dr McCoy he should have wished me Luck,” comment extra Ow Factor, both to Bones and to us the audience, but he still does what is asked of him. He was asked to do something for Spock, said he didn’t know how, was given a substitute, and did that substitute.

He also opens the door for Spock, who seemed to already expect he would do so, even if he is rather visibly disappointed by Bones’ silence. The quiet door opening could be read with hostility, in a “get out already” sense, but it can also be seen as Bones relinquishing his grudge. Spock doesn’t need Bones’ blessing to leave; he doesn’t need to be wished Luck and indeed goes out thinking Bones is mad at him. All the same, Bones let him go. He didn’t quip or argue.

And anyway this got way away from my initial v general thought while rewatching Friday’s Child but uh yeah there u go. bit of a s2 arc for spones wrt the Vulcan Culture Ignorance aspect

[ichayalovesyou]

What I think happened in the Mirror, Mirror Mind Meld (McSpirk/Spones theory)

I really don’t think even Mirror!Spock would “mind rape” anyone unless he felt like there wasn’t any other way.

I also don’t think Bones is stupid. I think he had the chance to be incredibly clever in this moment and actually took that opportunity even though he was obviously terrified. I mean who wouldn’t be?! Big sexy scary Vulcan rag dolled your friends and you’re alone in a room with him and he’s freaking crushing your wrist.

I think as soon as Bones realized what was happening (and he’d know, considering he was the very first person Spock confided in about the mind meld when Jim was on Tantulus in DoTM) he knew exactly what he was gonna do.

If Mirror!Spock wanted information, he was gonna get it.

If he made the same observations Kirk did, he’d have noticed that out of all their darker timeline companions, Spock was the least psychotic and most admirable of the bunch in spite of everything.

And like Kirk, wanted to see if he could push him to the side of light.

I think Mirror!Spock expected a Prime!Bones to be more different from Mirror!Bones, if the Captain and the others were of opposite temperament than his true crewmates. It would be logical to reason Prime!Bones was the opposite of “sentimental... soft.” as Mirror!Spock described Mirror!Bones, and if he was, that might mean he’d have to rip the answers out of him.

But he wasn’t, so he didn’t.

I think Bones just straight up answered all his questions without qualm or resistance, not out of fear (we all know Bones is courageous af) but out of hope.

Hope that Mirror!Spock would see how much less awful their timeline was, why Kirk spared him, that they’re all friends (real, non-backstabby friends) on the other side. Something the MirrorVerse lacks.

I think that’s why Mirror!Spock didn’t “mind rape” or kill Prime!Bones when the Mind Meld was done. I also think it’s one of the bigger reasons Mirror!Spock let them go, and allowed himself to be persuaded by Prime!Kirk’s call to action.

Kirk pleading with him might not have been enough, but Bones’s honesty was.

[scaredandbored]

frailty, thy name is leonard mccoy

(title is a rip-off of shakespeare’s line “frailty, thy name is woman” from hamlet)

warnings : THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE WARNINGS

 1- look bones gets kidnapped by aliens who are totally against their planet’s agreement with the federation and he gets beaten up pretty bad. im not sure how to warn specifics for this, but there’s physical violence and blood and stuff so if you don’t like that, this isn’t for you

2- this is my first time writing with a vague plot in mind so please feel free to tear into it with the ol’ constructive criticism

3- there IS a lengthy discussion of a “global viral pandemic” but it ain’t covid and it ain’t earth so s’long as words like “outbreak” “viral” “pandemic” “global pandemic” “isolation” etc don’t bother you it should be ok

4- bones is in it so there is cursing. also spock kinda gets Overly Protective so if yall dont like that give this one a skip (not that im always shit at writing spock anyway)

5- oop character death didn’t expect that but the plot goes where the plot wants to go

no editing we die like men

it IS a spones fic who do you think i am   

words : 3,523

When the Anti-Federation Rebels did not return by the time Leonard’s throat had begun to itch with thirst, he started to realise that he wasn’t critically injured Had any properly trained Starfleet officer been put in his situation, they probably wouldn’t even bother showing up to medbay at this stage. But he wasn’t properly trained. Just a bumbling country doctor the fleet had stupidly thought would thrive while being held responsible for the lives of the entire crew of their flagship. He wasn’t built for this kind of thing, he wasn’t trained. Physically and emotionally weaker than the rest of the crew, and completely ignorant of the politics and mind games involved in space travel; he was in pain. All he had wanted was to try and stop the spread of the virus, and look where that had gotten him.

He’d strong-armed Kirk into taking this mission. Pulled in a few favours. He’d not been keeping a particularly close eye on the negotiations happening between the official representatives of Caughlaigh and the United Federation of Planets, but when he’d heard about the viral outbreak on the main content of the planet, Leonard McCoy knew they weren’t equipped to handle the situation. The night he first heard about the outbreak, he’d asked Kirk what he’d known about Caughlaigh, to which the captain had responded : “To be perfectly honest, not much, Bones.”, before neatly taking Spock’s rook with a knight. Spock had raised an eyebrow at Leonard’s sudden breaking of the comfortable silence in the room. The eyebrow crept a millimetre higher at the captain’s unprecedented move. Leonard decided to drop the conversation and forget about it. He knew he didn’t know everything about the situation. He knew Starfleet would’ve looked at the medical capabilities of the people of Caughlaigh and reacted accordingly. He knew Spock was underestimating the importance of that particular move made by Jim. He’d thought maybe he was underestimating the Caughlaigh officials. Jim had won that particular match. 

Two days later, a recommended news story on his personal PADD told him the situation on Caughlaigh had escalated from an outbreak to a pandemic. There were cases in every settlement on the main continent, and the spread of the virus to the other two smaller continents was inevitable. He’d hung behind after watching Spock destroy Jim at chess three times in a row to tell the captain what he’d learned. Jim had smiled softly in the way he always did when Leonard was being unnecessarily worrisome. “I’m sure the powers that be are making sure no-one is in any real danger.” A friendly clap on the shoulder that the rest of the crew would’ve taken in their stride shook McCoy slightly. “Now, I recommend you get yourself a good night’s rest, Bones.” Leonard had grumbled something about not knowing Jim had gotten a medical license.

Another two days later, another recommended news story. The first deaths from the virus had happened in the epicentre of the pandemic, the largest settlement on the main continent had lost their main healer and her most trained assistant. McCoy set up his PADD so that any articles regarding the Caughlaigh Pandemic would be automatically downloaded, available to read even if they entered some electromagnetic storms or some other astro-phenomenon he didn’t fully understand.

A week later, three inhabitants of one of the smaller continents passed away. Leonard had gone to Jim with the intention of seeking comfort from the closest thing he had to a friend on this godforsaken tin can. He’d come back six hours later with a promise from his captain and Starfleet that the Enterprise was going to assist with the Caughlaigh situation.

A day later, Leonard hand picked multiple ensigns and a few nurses to take with him to the surface to work on the frontlines. Commander Spock had formally contested the logic in sending down the ship’s chief medical officer to work in a hospital instead of working on a cure back at the ship. Leonard’s friend Spock had requested he be unwavering in his sanitation and self-preservation on the surface.

He’d only been on the surface for a week when he’d been knocked out while he was scrubbing up for a surgery. The anti-federation rebels had noticed his uniform and taken him for a great deal of questioning. They used a method that was rather... forceful. 

They had left him alone, finally. Maybe they had realised he wasn’t going to cooperate. Most likely they were taking a break to make sure they didn’t render him useless before they could exploit him for information. Lucky for him.

Leonard McCoy didn’t enjoy bright lights at the best of times; as a boy growing up in Georgia he’d always been mocked by his peers for his adverse reaction to the harsh sunlight, whether it was violently scrunching up his face or wearing sunglasses every time he stepped outside the door. He’d eventually stopped wearing the sunglasses, migraines be damned. A kid can only take so much ridicule. Now, decades later, he found himself irrationally wishing he’d taken his sunglasses with him. He had to focus on how much the harsh, almost surgical lights were paining him. Had to, unless he wanted to focus on the rest of his aching body. 

He could heard the sound of his captors making their way back into the room he’d been strapped up in, and began to pull helplessly at his bonds, which did nothing but give him friction burns around his wrists and ankles. He tried to speak but instead of his voice, a pained hiss of air rushed out from somewhere low in his throat as a clawed foot connected with his stomach.

Clinically, Leonard registered the puncturing of the skin over his stomach, but failed to extrapolate any further medical analysis as pain seared from the wounds. A fist connected with his nose. There was a crack, then more pain. He could feel blood rushing down his lower face, could feel it looking between his lips, could taste it when his mouth opened in a gasp for air as something constricted his breathing.

Thrashing his head, Leonard desperately tried to get a glimpse of who was in the room with him, tried to figure out where they were coming from, where they’d hit him next, but the lights were blinding him, his eyes were burning, he was pretty sure his nose was broken, he was bleeding, he... he was alone.

An open palm struck his face while another clawed foot pressed painfully at the base of his spine. It was probably his imagination, but Leonard thought he could hear his old bones creak and groan under the pressure.

His lips grew tacky with the blood that continued to gush from his nose, and his head spun. He couldn’t stop himself from jerking his arms instinctively to press against the throbbing wounds to his stomach, which caused the restraints on his wrists to dig into his skin.

A cold, almost-leather strap was clamped around his neck, and it was tight, much too tight. He tried to tell them, desperate mewlings that went ignored as his nose kept bleeding and his stomach kept churning and he couldn’t think and then there was a strong, cold, seven fingered hand gripping his jaw, forcing his chin up.

A growl, from someone Leonard couldn’t see, corresponded with a significant tightening of the grip on his jaw. His head was full of feathers, he was sure of it. A soft, swan-like down that was probably stained brick red from the steady stream pouring out of his nose, out of his gut-

He felt his jaw shatter and his head hit the ground.

***

“Bones, please respond.” The captain had been comming his CMO for upwards of an hour now, ever since he failed to give his morning report. He hadn’t been particularly worried about Bones’s failure to report precisely on time; he’d always had an awful internal clock. The only reason he was starting to worry now was that his away team hadn’t seen Dr.McCoy since lunchtime yesterday. 

Now, if it had been an away team of senior officers, he’d believe Bones would’ve felt no need to check in with the crew, but he’d taken down a bunch of ensigns to try and give them some experience on the field, and Bones was the biggest mother hen Jim had ever met. “Spock, life signs?”

Spock hadn’t looked up from his console all morning, which was a worry in itself. “The doctor removed his comm badge before retiring last night, earlier than normal, captain. He has not reattached it since.” 

“You’re telling me we can’t find him?” Jim was trying to keep his professionalism, but when his friend was unaccounted for on a politically volatile planet, he thought he could be forgiven a little terseness. 

Spock took longer to reply than usual, his hands fiddling with what Jim knew to be more sensitive equipment than their general sensors. “There is no terran life-forms outside of the planet-side transporter location within our sensor range, captain.” 

“And what exactly is our sensor range, Mr.Spock?” Angling for less confrontational, Jim found himself using a tone of voice he knew Spock had difficulty discerning whether it was angry or not. To make up for this, Jim perched himself on the edge of Spock’s console, placing his hand on the back of the chair and leaning in closer so he could look at the readings himself. 

“We can scan the entire surface of the planet with the assistance of the numerous towers planet-side. However, we can only penetrate approximately six feet below the surface due to the composition of the planet’s soil. It contains isotopes which-”

“Thank you Mr.Spock, I understand.” Normally, Jim would indulge Spock in his analysis, but time could very well have been a resource they were lacking. “Six feet, you say?”

“Affirmative, captain.” Spock was looking directly at him, his normal micro-expressions invisible to Jim. 

“Well, at least we know he’s not dead.” 

“Captain?”

“I’ll explain later, Mr.Spock. Mr.Scott?” The crackle of the infamously bad reception from the engine room rang over the bridge’s intercom. 

“Aye, captain?”

“Any chance we could get those sickbay kids back onboard?”

“Aye sir. I had someone repair those transporters this mornin’.”

“Excellent. Bridge out.” Kirk took a steadying breath. Just one. He couldn’t let the panic he could feel settling low in his chest affect his ability to command the ship. Especially when the livelihood of the ship’s CMO depended on that ability. “Transporter room?”

“Sir?”

“Have we got a lock on the away team?”

“All bar one, captain. Do you have the coordinates of Dr.McCoy?”

“Not right now, no. Beam up the rest, and have them report to my ready room.”

“Aye, sir.” 

Jim closed his eyes for a moment, vaguely aware of Spock standing up from his station. “Alright, Mr.Spock. Let’s find out what we can from these officers before we go jumping to any conclusions.” 

***

Leonard woke as his head was thrown against what felt like a stone wall, blood bubbling in the back of his throat. He could only hope the blood was from his nose and not his lungs, although both his face and chest were aching equally. 

A hand pinned him to the wall by the back of his neck, grinding his face against the gritty surface. Tiny pebbles scraped at the skin of his face, and he could feel his head spin as concern about an infection flitted in and out of the overwhelming bouts of different kinds of pain. A burning pain on his face from the fiction between his cheek and the gravely wall, a sharp pain in his nose (broken, if the amount of blood pooling above his upper lip was anything to go by), another sharp pain somewhere on the back of his head (sticky substance on back of neck: sweat or blood?), various, almost insignificant pains along and around his torso, an overall stiffness, and, oh Jesus. 

A shriek ripped its way out of his severely dehydrated throat as a scaled fist collided with his side, tugging at the skin which they had haphazardly sewn back together while he’d been knocked out. The area around the wound was warm, and the second the fist made contact with his side he could feel something oozing out of it. Not good, his brain helpfully supplied. The scream that had perforated the room left him whimpering in pain, his jaw a horrific cocktail of sharp, stabbing pains and dull aches, a bitter metallic taste stinging at his taste buds. 

A voice, speaking a language he didn’t know, was coming from somewhere in the room, too far away to be his assailant. Then, right beside his ear, from a tongue not designed to verbalise Standard : “They come.” 

Leonard could feel a sharp talon being pressed against the junction between the hinge of his jaw and his ear, not piercing the skin, not yet. It took him a while to try and figure out what they meant, then he gave a sharp, barking laugh followed by a coughing fit, splattering the wall he was pressed against. Jesus Christ. “You’re on some goddamn dumb shit if y’all think they ain’t halfway across y’all’s galaxy by this point.” 

The faraway, foreign vocalisations. The talon jabbed forcefully into his skin, making him groan, feeling a warm trickle of blood slither down his neck to pool with whatever was dripping down the back of his neck. 

He’d been crying since before he’d woken up, at least he thought so. “They ain’t comin’ you goddamn idiots, get your paws the fuck offa me.” His voice was thin and non-threatening, even to his own ears. The talon dragged itself down, towards his carotid artery. Leonard’s shriek was trapped in his throat as he squirmed, pressing himself further into the wall in a pathetic attempt to escape the motion. He could hear the owner of the slowly advancing talon release a hiss, before jerking it back up to his ear, deepening the wound. 

He could hear his own sobs bouncing off of the walls, echoing around his head. They weren’t coming. They couldn’t come, they’d get caught too, they had to leave him. The shudder that ran through his body tugged at the rancid stitches in his stomach, the shifting of his clothes hitting him with his own stench: dried blood, fresh blood, sweat, urine, and vomit. 

Must’ve thrown up while unconscious.

Why didn’t I choke on it, damnit?

His stomach heaved, his stitched popped, and he felt himself crumple, but was unconscious before he felt to the ground with a dull crack.  

***

“Captain it’s been three days-”

“I won’t give up the search-”

“I would not suggest we cease our search, captain. I was suggesting you allow me to proceed ahead at my own pace, as I believe I will be more efficient in locating the doctor than the security team.”

“I need you here, Spock.”

“You do not.”

Jim had never seen Spock like this before, never born witness to his unwavering loyalty secondhand. He was used to being found by a Spock who had already begun to lose his  version of a frantic disposition. He did not know what to do with a Spock who looked like he was going to go ahead with his own plan regardless of orders received. “Spock-”

“You have many competent officers aboard who would be willing to assist you in interviewing the locals.”

Jim tilted his head, giving his first officer a warning look which he had a feeling went ignored. “Are you suggesting my search team is incompetent, Mr.Spock?”

His eyebrows jumped as Spock clearly opened his mouth to give his agreement. Spock quickly checked himself and closed his mouth, took a deep breath, then leveled Jim with a look he knew all too well. Spock had picked it up from him. “I am merely noting your CMO has been missing for three days, presumed in mortal danger.” It was a vulcanised version of the look Jim got before disobeying a direct order from a superior.

“I need you back alive. Both of you.” 

Spock blinked once in what Jim hoped was a promise before he was gone.

***

The team of redshirts trailed behind Spock as he followed the sound of a gentle scraping his human teammates had not been able to hear. The sound grew louder as they wound their way through a cave system that was almost too dark for him to see in. Spock’s already brisk pace grew even faster as a pained groan joined the scraping noise, an eerily human expression of pain. 

The team following him broke out into a full sprint the second they heard a yell coming from directly ahead. Spock froze at the familiarity of that yell. He’d heard it more times than he cared to, and his stomach lurched at what it implied. Snapping into action, he easily outstripped the rest of the team, who yelled for him to stop. 

Spock did not stop.

He burst into a wide open cavern flooded with bright light, felt his second eyelid slide shut, and in the split second it took for his eyes to adjust, there were three pairs of eyes fixed on him. Two threatening, reptilian humanoids watched him carefully, as Spock stood, frozen. McCoy was looking at him, but his eyes were glazed over, his face gaunt and bloody, his bare feet slipping in a puddle of his own shockingly red blood as he was held up by his neck by one of the two friendly locals. Spock felt cold, and he could feel his heart drop to his pelvic girdle as he was unable to see the rise and fall of the doctor’s chest. He couldn’t move. The captors were stood in shock, uncertain what to do with their intruder.

“S....Sp....” McCoy blinked slowly and tried to speak. The sound of his voice struggling up through a restricted throat, past a mangled jaw, desperately trying to form the sounds of his name brought a fury Spock had never known.

He felt a growl rumble in his chest, and when the lizard holding McCoy by the neck gave the doctor a shake, Spock launched himself. He was vaugly aware of a scuffle ensuing behind him, but his focus was totally on pulverising this creature who had dared to try and take Leonard from him. 

Wrapping an arm around Leonard’s chest elicited a pained mewl from his tiny doctor, which sent another surge of red through Spock, as he shoved the creature away from them instead of trying to pull Leonard away, but the creature dug its talons in instead of letting go. Spock could feel Leonard jerk forward, pulled by the nails embedded in his neck. A strangled noise left Spock as he leaned forward and sank his teeth into the hand, which released Leonard in surprise. Immediately, Spock slipped McCoy behind him, his concern slowly growing to outtake his anger as Leonard’s pained noises grew more and more frequent. Backing into a corner, Spock’s eyes did not leave the advancing opponent.

There was a flash of light, the lizard fell, and Spock immediately turned to Leonard, his hands flying to the psi-points on the doctors face without hesitation, totally unaware of the frail hands shakily trying to pry him away. Spock joined to McCoy without hesitating, ascertaining the extent of the damage.

That wasn’t a very good idea, darlin’. 

Spock had not wanted his first meld with Leonard to be like this, not filled with more pain than he knew the doctor could withstand, not feeling the ghosts of what he knew, logically, were recent, fatal wounds, and older, debilitating lacerations and fractures.

You may not leave. 

Since when have I ever done what y’told me to, Spock?

His thoughts were... surprisingly direct for a human untrained in vulcan ways, but the way they were growing gradually quieter was enough to send Spock into a panic which he tried desperately to tamp down. 

On Vulcan, one’s spouse always  obeys their husband.

Who’s t’say y’ain’t the one who’s ‘posed to do th’ obeyin’?

Spock felt a flash of pain as Leonard tried to smile, then the connection went dead. 

Leonard had slammed up a mental barrier, and Spock did not have time to wonder where he had learned to do that, not as he was desperately pressing at Leonard’s psi-points while fixedly staring at the increasingly unsteady rise and fall of the his chest. Spock’s gazed fixed in horror at the stark white slip of collarbone protruding from the skin with every inhale. 

By the time the familiar fizz of the transporter surrounded them, Spock was no longer fighting against the mental barrier, but was still unable to make contact with the spirited doctor.

***

Jim had known Spock’s expression had meant he was going to disobey an order. He’d hoped by giving the order Spock had wanted, to bring his two best friends home, to avoid that. He should’ve known better.          

[twinklysmiles]

Emotional Release

A Star Trek Tickle Fic

Fandom: Star Trek TOS / AOS Characters: Spock / Leonard Bones McCoy  Warnings: Tickling, implied smut Word Count: 2,444

Summary: The one where Spock’s hormonal balance is off, and McCoy has just the cure. (This might well be how ‘Spones’ first began.)

Dr. McCoy ran his scanner all over Spock’s body, humming and grunting cryptically at the readings, his face creased in a worried frown that got even deeper when he noticed the Vulcan, who was currently lying on the biobed in his underwear, shifting around uncomfortably.

He’d summoned Spock for an unscheduled physical, after the first officer had practically bitten his head off during one of their friendly arguments, his temper uncharacteristically getting the better of him.

“Stop fidgeting, Spock!” the doctor sighed, “I’m nearly done. Your hormones are all over the place, we’ll have to find a way of emotional release for you, and soon. Like it or not, you are half human, and constantly suppressing your emotions just isn’t healthy.”

“I thought that was what your little jibes and provocations were about, Doctor,” Spock replied, “to give me the opportunity for emotional release in a dignified and subtle way through our frequent arguments.”

“I know, Spock,” McCoy smiled kindly at his patient, “that was the plan, and it’s worked so far. But it doesn’t seem to be enough, anymore. We’ll have to find something else, something more intense.”

Sitting up, Spock looked at the doctor almost anxiously, and McCoy felt his heart going out to his friend.

“Don’t worry, Spock, I’ll think of something,” he said reassuringly, reaching out to gently squeeze the Vulcan’s knee.

Spock inhaled sharply and jerked his leg out of McCoy’s grasp as if he’d been scorched by the touch, his face flushing a deep green.

The doctor looked at him, baffled, a slow smile spreading across his face as he reached his hand out again to squeeze Spock’s other knee.

This time, the Vulcan let out a snort that sounded more like a hiccup, and desperately batted the doctor’s hand away.

“Please refrain from doing that, Doctor,” Spock said, his voice unusually high.

“Why, Spock? Are you ticklish?” McCoy grinned, unable to hide his glee at the unexpected discovery.

“I’m … “ Spock swallowed hard, “I don’t know. But it is annoying.”

“Annoying?” McCoy guffawed. “This is adorable!”

Spock’s face turned an even darker shade of green, terribly embarrassed to display such a childish human weakness.

“Are you ticklish anywhere else?” the doctor asked, starting a surprise-attack on Spock’s midsection, lightly scrabbling his fingers all over his belly, making the Vulcan let out an actual squeal and nearly fall off the biobed, as he jumped and twisted this way and that to avoid McCoy’s devious fingers.

“Please desist, Doctor,” Spock growled through gritted teeth, puffing out short gusts of breath as McCoy’s nimble fingers kept tormenting his ticklish stomach, belly and sides, “this is most humiliAHAHAHAting.”

The Vulcan couldn’t hold back any longer, when the doctor added his second hand into the assault, the wicked two-pronged attack on Spock’s ribs making him burst into bright, helpless laughter, as the unbearably ticklish sensations flashing through his body made him want to jump out of his skin.

Bahahahahahahaha! Woohoohoohoohoohoohoo! Nohohohohohoho! Plehehehehease DESIIIIIIHIHIHIHIHIST!

“Humiliating?” McCoy repeated, once he’d taken his hands away and the Vulcan’s adorable laughter had died down. “Spock! This is human. Everyone’s ticklish somewhere. You don’t know how many tickle spots I’ve discovered on our crew members over the years. Being ticklish is nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, this might just be what we need!”

“I’m sorry, Doctor?” Spock, still panting hard and giggling occasionally, looked as perplexed as a Vulcan could.

“You see, being tickled and laughing freely is a great stress relief, which also makes it a perfect means of emotional release.”

“Are you suggesting to tickle me in order to get my hormonal balance back?” Spock asked, and the doctor could have sworn he saw fear in his eyes.

“Actually, I am,” McCoy grinned, doing his trademark little bounce at the idea. “We really need to do something about those hormones, and we might just as well have some fun!”

Seeing Spock shrink back, clearly convinced that the fun would only be on the doctor’s side, McCoy asked, “Has your mother never tickled you when you were a kid? Joanna loved to be tickled, couldn’t get enough, laughing her adorable little head off.”

Spock looked at the doctor aghast.

“I remember my mother doing it to me once or twice, but ‘laughing one’s head off’ is not very dignified, and my father specifically prohibited it after seeing my reaction. Apparently, I seem to have been rather … er … sensitive.”

A little shiver visibly ran down Spock’s spine at the memory.

“Tell you what, Spock,” McCoy suggested, trying to sound all business, when he really couldn’t wait to get his hands on the Vulcan again. “Since this could be the perfect therapy for you, let’s test out your tickle spots a little more, and see if we can work with that.”

Spock swallowed, nervously licking his lips.

“What if I cannot endure it?” he asked almost timidly, and McCoy suspected that the Vulcan was way more than just a little ticklish and knew it, too.

“We won’t know unless we try, will we?” the doctor smirked, already imagining Spock cackling, squirming and writhing under his vicious fingers. “And a little struggle and belly-laugh is exactly what we’re aiming for, if we want this to work.”

“Doctor,” Spock gulped, jumping off the bed to get farther away from McCoy’s fingers, which the doctor was wiggling teasingly in the air, “I don’t think I can do this. I’m really too ticklish.”

“Oh, come on Spock, a little tickle won’t kill you,” McCoy laughed, although Spock’s face seemed to contradict.

“I am not sure that I can control myself when tickled,” the Vulcan tried.

“You’re not supposed to control yourself, Spock,” McCoy countered exasperatedly. “The whole point is to let go and get some emotional relief!”

“But I might accidentally hurt you, Doctor,” Spock pointed out.

“Well, if you’re getting too wild, we’ll have to restrain you, of course.”

Never before had McCoy seen Spock’s eyes grow so wide.

“As a last resort, I mean,” he chuckled, then added mischievously, “but I think I could always tell Jim and the others about what I’ve found out today. Maybe you’d rather be tickled publicly by them on the bridge instead of here, by me, in this soundproof room?”

Now Spock looked actually shocked.

“I promise I’ll be gentle, and who knows? You might actually enjoy it!” the doctor tried to cajole him into complying.

As much as he was looking forward to tickling the hell out of the stoic Vulcan, he really wanted to help him, and truly believed that a ticklish workout – physically as well as emotionally – would actually help restore Spock’s hormonal balance.

“Come on, Spock, let’s get started,” McCoy patted the biobed. “Be a good boy, lie down, and raise your arms above your head for me.”

And, seeming to briefly consider his options one more time, Spock complied.

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

McCoy had the time of his life. He could hardly believe how ticklish Spock really was.

The Vulcan wasn’t able to keep his arms above his head for even a second, when the doctor just lightly touched his armpits, and instantly fell into silent laughter when McCoy’s fingers, trapped in his underarms, continued wiggling viciously. Nor was he able to keep from squirming and desperately trying to bat McCoy’s hands away when touched anywhere on his belly, sides or ribs.

Spock’s laughter was deep and throaty when tickled anywhere on his belly, and high-pitched, intermingled with squeals when the doctor clawed his ribs. Armpits, whenever the doctor got a chance to get his hands in, usually while Spock was flailing his arms trying to keep McCoy’s hands off his ribs, always rendered him completely hysterical, throwing him into immediate silent laughter mode. Quite obviously a really diabolical spot.

After a few minutes of struggling to get a good tickle in at all, McCoy switched on the biobed sensors and monitor, promising to keep a close eye on the vitals that would tell him exactly how much Spock could take and when he’d reached his limits, then asked the Vulcan to let himself be restrained, which the first officer grudgingly agreed to, the alternative being to inform the captain of this new, highly promising therapy.

“Isn’t it strange how much pain the human body can endure, and yet is so unbearably vulnerable to tickling?” McCoy couldn’t help teasing, watching Spock’s pulse readings rise immediately.

Over the next 30 minutes, the doctor had Spock practically continuously laughing. Since McCoy wanted to avoid direct skin contact with the Vulcan, not least to keep the pleasure he got out of this “treatment” from Spock, neck, ears, knees and thighs were off limits. But when he saw the poorly concealed relief in the Vulcan’s face, especially at the mention of his ears and thighs, the doctor made a mental note to have some silk gloves ready for the next session.

Spock’s whole abdomen was basically one huge tickle spot. The sides of his belly were unbearably sensitive to light, feathering touches, eliciting hysterical cackling from the Vulcan. Staccato tapping anywhere on his stomach resulted in a rich belly-laugh, probably McCoy’s favourite sound. And counting his ribs, gentle fingers drilling in the spaces in between, made the Vulcan howl with laughter.

Apart from his armpits, which really seemed to be Spock’s worst spot, and on which the doctor had to go easy, his sides just above the hipbone proved to be another excruciatingly ticklish spot, when receiving a skilful thumb treatment. Unlike his underarms, the hips at least allowed the Vulcan a few moments of cackling and shrieking before being reduced to silent laughter.

For the last five minutes, McCoy went to the foot of the bed, grinning when Spock’s face clearly showed regret for not having taken his socks off before his exam, nervously curling his toes in ticklish anticipation. When the doctor reached out to touch the twitching feet before him, the Vulcan took a deep breath and clamped his mouth shut, as if he was about to jump into deep water.

McCoy let his two index fingers slowly trail up Spock’s soles, from the heels to the base of his toes, watching the first officer desperately shake his head from side to side while puffing out short breaths through his nose. The doctor went on to play little piggy with all of the Vulcan’s toes, noticing with interest that squeezing and twiddling his middle toes made Spock jerk violently, eliciting the highest-pitched squeaks yet.

And when McCoy finally used one hand to hold back the toes and keep Spock from scrunching them up, while scratching all the fingers of his other hand rapidly from side to side underneath them, along the stems, Spock burst into uncontrollable laughter, escalating into shrieks and screams, his whole body thrashing and spasming, yanking so hard at the restraints, he was almost tearing them off. The doctor quickly let go of the first officer’s feet again.

“Sorry, Spock,” McCoy apologised to the panting Vulcan, unfastening the restraints and handing him a tissue to wipe the tears and sweat from his face. “Are you all right? I had no idea having your feet tickled would be so harrowing for you, I think we’d better skip them next time.”

“Next time?” Spock croaked unable to hide his shock, his voice hoarse from all the laughing and shrieking.

“Well, take a look at the readings yourself!” the doctor grinned smugly, pointing at the display of his tricorder and handing the Vulcan a large glass of water, which Spock gulped down greedily. “I’d say, if we do this twice a month, your anger and other emotional issues will be a thing of the past.”

When Spock had caught his breath again, and had shaken himself several times to get rid of all residual tickles and giggles, he got up, stretched, raised an intrigued eyebrow at the doctor, and admitted that he felt much better indeed.

“Thank you, Doctor. Unusual as this method may be, you seem to have, in fact, found an effective therapy for my hormonal imbalance,” Spock observed, glancing not very subtly from his own standard issue briefs to McCoy’s pants. “I can count on your confidentiality?”

The doctor cleared his throat, feeling the heat rising to his cheeks, certain that his face displayed a shade of pink easily matching the Vulcan’s green hue, when he looked at the enormous tent in Spock’s briefs, only to discover the impressive proof of the therapy’s effectiveness in his own bulging pants, too.

“Uh, of course, Spock. And please, call me Leonard,” he grinned wryly, watching the Vulcan invade his personal space with what could only be described as a slow smile.

“So, tell me, Leonard,” Spock actually purred, “did you enjoy my emotional release?”

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

So, whoever happens to be in a quiet sickbay every other late Sunday evening, pressing an ear against the door of the otherwise soundproof examination room, might hear something like this.

“Hahahahaha! Hehehehe! Nononono! Nohohot thehehehehre! Plehehehehase not thehehehere! AAAAAHAHAHAH! Nohohot my behehehelly! Ahahahah! Plehehehease Leonahahahahard!”

“NOOOOO! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOT THE RIHIHIHIHIBS!”

“EEEEEK!”

Long silence

“Please, leave my armpits alone, Leonard! You know I can’t take it there.”

Panting

“BAWAHAHAHAHAH! Stohohohohp! My stohohohomach is muhuhuhuch too TIHIHIHIHCKLISH! DEHEHEHEHESIIIIIIIIIST! I cahahahan’t! It tihihihickles so bahahahad! AHAHAHAHA! AAAAAAAAHAHAH!”

More panting

“No! No! No! Nononono! NOOOOO! NOHOHOHOHO! DEATH SPOT! DEATH SPOHOHOHOHOT! Desiiiist! DESIIIIIIIHIHIHIHIST!”

Hiccupping

“You are one evil doctor, Leonard.” Gasp. “How can you always hit those spots at the sides of my belly so accurately?”

Kissing sounds?

“AAAAAH! Don’t! NOOOOOOHOHO! Not thehehehre! NOT THEHEHEHEHERE! AAAAAAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Not AHAHAHAHAHA the AHAHAHAHAHAH hi-hi-hi-hi-HI-HI-HIIIIPS!”

Long silence

“Enough, enouhugh! ENOUGH!” Gasp, gasp. “I’ve had enough, Leonard, I can’t take anymore. And neither can you, it seems.”

More kissing sounds?

“Spock, I need…”

“Yes, Leonard?”

“Mmmmmh! Ooooooh! Yes, yes, yes, yessssss!”

“Not so fast, Leonard! Light touches, just as you like to administer to my belly.”

“Please, Spock, don’t be cruel!”

“I’m Vulcan, we’re not cruel.”

“Oh, Spock, please!”

“This better, Leonard?”

“Oooooh, yes! Mmmmmmmh, aaaaaaah, oooooooh, mmmmmmh. SPOCK!”

“Is there a problem, Leonard?”

“You son of a mmmmmmh, yeeeeeees, mmmmmmh, yes, yes, yes!”

“Like this?”

“Oh, yes! Oooooh, more, mooooore, yeeeees, neeeed moooore! Just like that! Yes, yes, more! Mmmmmmmmh! Right there, oh yes, mmmmmh, yes!”

Long silence

“Spock!”

“Leonard!”

“SPOCK!”

“LEONARD!”

“Oh God, oh fuck!”

Vulcan cursing

Heavy breathing

“FUCK! SPOCK! FUCK!”

“YESSSSSS!”

More heavy breathing

“Fucking hell, that was the fucking best!”

“Fucking agreed.”

Once a month would probably be enough, but McCoy certainly won’t tell Spock that, because he’s having far too much fun tickling the Vulcan silly and, well, dealing with the side effects.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing of Star Trek 

[enterprisetrampstamp]

i'd love to see either angst 13 or fluff 1 with any pairing, or kisses 16 with spones/ot3 sounds delightful, whichever strikes your fancy :D

Angst 13: “If you don’t hug me right now I think I might fall apart.”

Christine can barely even look Len in the eye when he drops his hand on her shoulder, his face drawn and exhausted. “Go get some sleep,” he tells her quietly.

“Yeah.” She squeezes one hand over her eyes. “You, too,” she says.

“Yeah,” Len echoes. “Sure thing, Chris.”

She feels numb as she walks back to her quarters, and the hallways of the Enterprise yawn solemnly around her, uncharacteristically quiet for this time of alpha shift. But nearly everyone aboard ship’s been awake since the distress call came in in the first place; undoubtedly the Captain’s taken them down to a skeleton shift, now that the crisis is over.

They must have missed the announcement, over in Medical.

They were busy.

The doors to Christine’s quarters open with a quiet whoosh, and she sets about her nightly ritual mechanically. Gather pajamas; take shower; brush teeth; brush hair. She’s still slightly damp, her blonde tresses darkened to brunette, when she pulls back the sheets to slip into bed.

Nyota makes a soft noise, rousing from her sleep with the cool air that creeps in. “Mndani,” she mumbles.

Christine’s hands are shaking with exhaustion. Maybe emotion. She doesn’t want to think about it. “Go back to sleep,” she says softly, brushing her knuckles over Nyota’s shoulder as she moves to cradle her lovely cheek.

“You’re trembling,” Nyota says, her brow tightening in a frown as she covers Christine’s hand with her own. “Are you okay?”

“Sure.” Christine closes her eyes and makes a weak attempt at humor. “But it’s not me who’s the problem, y’know?”

Nyota curls closer to her, pressing their foreheads together as she releases an exhausted sigh. “We lost people,” she says. It should be a guess- Len was only just preparing to inform the Captain when Christine left- but Nyota is too perceptive to miss the signs in front of her.

Christine squeezes her eyes shut. She can’t handle the tenderness of Nyota’s dark gaze just now. “Yeah,” she chokes out.

“Oh, darling.” Nyota’s hand strokes through her damp hair. “Tell me what you need.”

“I think I need a hug.” Christine draws in a shaky breath. “If you don’t hold me right now, I think I might fall apart.”

[lamburrito]

Poison - Spones

Here is your Spones @weresilver-in-space XD

Warnings: Open end/No happy end

They were running. Running for their lives. Just another mission gone wrong and of course they also lost contact to the Enteprise.

Leonard just hoped Jim and Nyota were alright. The two of them had run off in a different direction than he and Spock. But with a bunch of angry natives following them they couldn't just turn around and look for their friends.

However not knowing where his best friend was, wasn't Bones only concern at the moment.

One of the natives had thrown a knife at him, which had hit him at the leg. Leonard didn't know if Spock had noticed, Bones definitely hadn't told him. It was only a flesh wound. But now Leonard had problems keeping up with the first officer. He was in pain and felt it slowly spreading in his body. Apparently the knife had been poisoned.

Poorly the doctor hadn't his med kit with him. Meaning if they didn't manage to contact the Enteprise soon this could be Leonards last mission.

"Doctor, hurry!" Spock called and ran straight to a cave.

Bones looked behind him. He couldn't see the natives anymore but still hear them.

So he followed Spock into the cave. Hoping they wouldn't be found here. They needed a break. At least Leonard did.

Panting he leaned on a wall before sliding down on the ground.

Spock studied him. Finally seeing how pale the doctor suddenly looked, how he was extremely out of breath. Yes, they had just run quite a bit, still the doctor was one of the best runners of the crew.

"Leonard, are you alright?"

Mccoy looked at him, smiling a bit bitterly:"I think I was poisoned."

Bones saw Spocks eyes go wide.

The half Vulcan quickly kneeled beside him.

"Can I do something?" he questioned.

Was this concern in his eyes and voice, Bones wondered.

"Just try to contact the Enteprise. I don't know for sure if the poison is deadly but it feels like it." the doctor answered.

Spock nodded and took out his communicator. Trying to reach Scotty or somebody else. Over and over again. No response.

Leonard sighed and closed his eyes. Listening to Spocks tries. The Vulcan sounded distressed, Mccoy noticed.

Further than that he had the feeling that the speed of how that poison worked quickened. If this was the truth there was probably not much time left for the doctor.

"Leonard, stay awake." Spock called.

But only as Bones felt a hand on his cheek he opened his eyes. Slowly focusing on his friend. This was definitely worry in these brown eyes of Spock.

"There is not much time left for me." Bones informed, his voice sounding a bit weak.

"You are a strong man. You are gonna get through this." Spock tried.

Leonard nearly laughed:"Never thought I hear such words from you. I'm flattered. But I can't do the impossible."

The first officer looked at him for a moment,before he tried to reach the Enteprise again.

Again Leonard sighed. That definitely wasn't the way he imagined dying,through he probably should have known. Still he hated it.

He hated how he felt getting weaker. Hated how he couldn't do anything. Hated how he worried Spock. Hated that he even now didn't manage to tell Spock the truth about his feelings.

At this thought the half Vulcan stopped speaking in the communicator and looked at the doctor.

"Oh, I forgot. Touch telepath." Bones muttered.

"I am not letting you die." Spock stated after a moment of silence and pulled the doctor against his chest.

It was warm in Spocks arms. Leonard liked this. So instead of arguing with Spock about his statement, Bones closed his eyes.

@cuddlememerrick, @captainleonardmccoy, @bunnygeneral, @avengingphoenix @mouse-the-human

[mckirkish]

Little Green Men (Pt. 2)

secretlyahalfling replied to your post “Bringing this back then! :D I need to get my writing mojo going and...”

Anything Spones, please, please, please!!!

Well, since you asked for anything Spones, and my introduction for a modern spones AU went so well, might as well have another installment! Hope you enjoy~

Most of what he is aware of is the pain.

The technology of the Planet Earth had been far more advanced than he had been expecting given the information that he had received from his mother before they had departed Vulcan. The small craft from the Science Academy should have been more than sufficient for the covert mission his mother had asked him to undertake with her.

It had been entering the atmosphere that had done it. The composition of the minerals and chemicals had been different than he’d calculated, they reacted with the metals from Vulcan in a way that he could not entirely compensate for, making the shields almost useless. They had been the perfect target for whatever projectile had been aimed at the ship.

It had not been a graceful landing. The pain had started before the impact, and the impact had caused a temporary lapse in consciousness. The end result was that he found himself in a sterile environment with no sign of his mother in even greater pain than he had been in before.

Let’s see what I can do for you. After that, we can see about getting you out of here.

His mother had taught him the language of her people, but even without it, Spock would have understood the intent. Nitrile gloves were not a sufficient barrier to block out the man’s thoughts, not when Spock was still dazed, his mind open, far more than he had ever experienced, and receiving telepathic impressions not only from the man above him, but the other humans in the vicinity as well.

“Where in the hell-”

The human is muttering above him.

“That-”

There is a frown as sure and steady hands move over his body.

That’s not where a heart is supposed to be.

“I assure you, doctor,” because the man is clearly a medical professional, and he does not appear to be comfortable with the situation in which he finds himself. “My heart is exactly where it is meant to be.”

“Jesus H-” The man jerks in surprise, then quickly pulls his hands away, muttering obscenities under his breath as a sense of guilt and wordless apology for increasing his patient’s pain pours out of him.

He returns quickly, bending low over Spock, and Spock finds himself observing that the man’s eyes are quite aesthetically pleasing.

“Did you just talk inside my head?” the doctor asks as soft as he can.

“Telepathic communication has the benefit of requiring no translation.” Spock responds. “As well as preventing out conversation from being overheard by the military personnel who are quite unnerved by my presence and quite displeased by yours.”

“Yeah well…would you kindly refrain from doing it for a moment? I’m trying to save your life here and that isn’t exactly easy to do with someone chatting in your head.”

Instead of replying, Spock merely nods. It is a logical request. He does not think he is in danger of dying, though he certainly feels far weaker than ideal in his current situation.

A tense silence falls, and the man bends to his task, his mind ordered and focused entirely on the biological and physiological puzzle Spock represents for him.

Spock tries to meditate, but the humans must have injected him with a chemical compound that has reacted with his mental abilities. He cannot find the silence of his own mind. The doctor’s mind is easy to ignore, but the other humans’ minds are a cacophony of disorder fuelled by emotion.

“THERE. ALL DONE.”

The directed thought makes Spock flinch, it is like the human is screaming inside his mind.

“No need for such force, Doctor. Merely think normally and I will understand. I see that you are concerned for my welfare, and rightly so. Unfortunately, as you surmise, I am in no condition to act alone, and there is another consideration as well. I hypothesize that my mother is somewhere in this facility as well.”

Incoherent shock, and then further calculation.

“Let’s see if I can’t get myself invited to stay for awhile,” The doctor thinks, a plan beginning to form in the back of his mind.

Spock cannot help but observe that he is very fortunate to have been entrusted to this man’s care. An intelligent and reasoned doctor with captivating eyes.

[calliecat93]

Well I figured with the holidays almost here, I may as well do a Spones meta on All Our Yesterdays. It takes place in a snowy setting so it counts for holiday stuff, right? Plus this was the episode that got me fully on board the Spones ship and I haven’t done a meta about them in a long while so this was the excuse to do one I needed XD

We all know this episode. This is the “We go together or not at all” episode. Which that one line sums up the entire theme of this meta. There’s not much to say about them at the start of the episode. There’s no bickering or barely interaction with the two. They and Jim are all in professional mode and primarily concerned about why all the people on the dying planet disappeared and about The Library, so not too much interaction. But of course that all changes when Kirk goes into the portal and is sent to the past, then Spock and McCoy chase after him and end up in the planet’s ice age. That’s when the fun starts.

There are several major things to discuss, but there’s a lot of small things as well. When McCoy collapses from the cold, Spock of course delivers the “We go together” line (twice), but he also just kind of… sits there and holds/frets over McCoy. He doesn’t need to, he can just keep him sitting up. But add that to refusing to leave him despite McCoy pleading with him to leave him and go find Jim or some kind of shelter, which would probably be the logical thing to do since McCoy is dead weight, yet he doesn’t. Then after they’re in the cave, Spock spends a good chunk of time either checking McCoy despite having a tricorder or otherwise continuing to fret over him. Even when first interacting with Zarabeth, while it’s obvious what the episode is setting up, his attention goes right back to McCoy, who is knocked out, badly frostbitten, and possibly dying. That’s all that Spock can focus on at that moment: McCoy’s well-being. There’s SO much touching/hovering in this half episode. I only get ten images per post so I can’t show even a fraction of it, but…

And those are just the ones I could get off TrekCore, but screencaps alone cannot convey how uttelry ridiculous the amount of touching/hovering is. Amazing, but still!

Spock doesn’t start focusing on finding Kirk until McCoy outright tells him to. He asks Zarabeth to show him the portal… but she stops him. But it’s not due to her making a move on him or anything. It’s because she brings up that McCoy’s still sick. That’s when Spock begins to have a conflict with his logic and he’s frustrated about it, but it’s still notable. He worries about leaving McCoy alone despite knowing that finding the portal is the most logical thing to do to ensure that they both get back and he’s in a safe space now. He’s still himself enough to realize that this isn’t how he should be thinking, but we’re at the literal tail-end of the final season so IDT it’s a stretch to say that there is a concern that he genuinely has because he does genuinely care for McCoy. He almost lost him in For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky and The Empath earlier in the season and his concern was very evident in those episodes. But he was able to keep himself focused in those cases while here, because of the regression, he’s having a harder time doing so.

It doesn’t help when Zarabeth informs him that going back would mean that she would die, which Spock takes at face value and decides that it’s hopeless. Something he otherwise wouldn’t do. Something that McCoy knows that he otherwise wouldn’t do. You can just see the utter disbelief on his face when Spock informs him of this and has taken Zarabeth at her word. And indeed Spock just gives up after that, which McCoy definitely knows isn’t right. I’m not sure if his conclusion about Spock wanting to stay is entirely accurate (it certainly is later) since up to that point any attraction Spock has had for Zarabeth has been minimal. Like I said, any time it was clear that the show was giving them a moment, he turned right back to McCoy and we can assume that he remained that way until McCoy was mostly recovered. Although we have McCoy kinda sorta flirting with Zarabeth with Spock hovering, which is probably meant to show Spock being jealous of McCoy… but it’s not at all hard to say Spock’s jealous of McCoy flirting with someone else. The way that Leonard Nimoy delivers the “The prospect appeared quite attractive to you a moment ago.” line just reeks of it XD

Then we have McCoy getting frustrated with Spock giving up and his current attitude and uses his typical ‘pointed-ear Vulcan’ jab. Now, normally when the two bicker, while it has gotten tense a few times in episodes like The Immunity Syndrome and The Tholian Web, they’ve never gotten physical. McCoy kinda came close in the latter episode, but all he did was turn the captain’s chair around and he caught himself right away and apologized. But otherwise, they just snipe at each other to varying degrees and that’s it. Spock here? Outright grabs McCoy in a manner promising physical violence and outright glows that he never liked that jab or any of the others. Whether that’s true or not, this is not how Spock ever responds. Even in The Immunity Syndrome where he gives McCoy a very biting remark concerning his dismissiveness over a large group of Vulcans dying in one of their more serious bouts (admittedly it was more towards humanity in general but McCoy still provoked it), he never made any move to hurt the doctor or even threaten him, at least that I can recall. That was not the case here and McCoy is understandably disturbed by this intimidating, emotional response that Spock would never display, at least not willingly. And consideirng his repsonse when Spock was made to act emotionally in Plato’s Stepchildren, he has to know how distressing this would be once Spock regained his senses as well.

It takes McCoy only a few seconds to piece together what’s going on. It’s kind of ironic. With Spock struggling to think logically and responding to his emotions more, McCoy has to pick up the ball and be the logical one. So he decides to more or less do what Kirk did in This Side of Paradise: piss Spock off and let that snap him out of his current state. The way he confronts and then grabs Zarabeth is… kind of disturbing and one of the harder parts of the episode to watch, but it does work. Spock grabs him and is moments away from snapping his neck, but McCoy just grabs onto him and asks Spock what he’s feeling and if he’s ever felt this way before. It gets Spock to start thinking again and realize that he’s lost himself and get Zarabeth to confirm that she knows that she’ll die if she goes through the portal, but she has no way of knowing if that’s the case for Spock and McCoy. Like I said McCoy doesn’t come off as entirely great because of how he chose to confront Zarabeth, but he had to have known that he was putting himself at great risk with this stunt . He had no proof that he was even right, but he still chose to risk it to get Spock back to some kind of normal state. Can’t deny that it wasn’t bold, but this is the same guy who knocked his two best friends out to spare them and let himself be horribly tortured without any hesitation, so are we even surprised that he doesn’t give a damn about facing death for someone else’s sake?

Then we get to the juicy part. McCoy goes to find the portal, deadset on going back to where his life is. But he doesn’t force Spock to go with him. He can’t make him so he decides to go back with or without him… though preferably with him. Spock could have just let him go and stay with Zarabeth, yes he chose to go after him. Sure it’s to convince him to give it up, but again he didn’t have to. Heck if he was indeed jealous McCoy being gone would mean no threat, and he still chose McCoy. Then they find the portal and the two have the chance to go back, but Zarabeth can’t. You can just see Spock looking back and forth between the portal and Zarabeth with McCoy trying to get him to come on already. It’s almost kinda funny XD He has to pick one or the other: Zarabeth or McCoy? Spock pushes McCoy to the portal to send him back, seemingly making his choice… and it doesn’t work. They can’t go back seperately. It’s either they go together, or not at all.

And despite the ‘attraction’ to Zarabeth that the episode had been playing up… there’s no real conflict over what Spock should do. Zarabeth just walks away and leaves the two to return to the present. Spock doesn’t even linger as he goes back through with McCoy and tries to otherwise dismiss the whole ordeal as ‘in the past’. Any fallout that the two go through after this remains in the realm of headcanon, but that’s not the point here. We don’t see Spock’s face and he seems reluctant to let Zarabeth go… but in all honesty, once it was clear that McCoy couldn’t go back unless Spock went with him, I don’t think it’s even a question for him over what to do. We saw him caring for and hovering over McCoy the whole episode. Even at this point, just monments after their intense little confrontation and his conflict after realizing he’s lost himseld, Spock was still worried about McCoy’s well-being and chose to follow him. He chose McCoy earlier in the episode, and he did so again here. Nothing that he ‘felt’ for Zarabeth could ultimateley come between that. And even if one argues that Zarabeth made the decision for him, it’s still her ultimately giving Spock up to McCoy so even she knew that there was no longer any chance.

I’m not exactly sure where I’m trying to go with all of this, but the point is this really is a really interesting episode concerning Spones. There’s barely any of the usual back and forth between them and when it does finally happen it’s an indicator that something’s wrong. Spock’s openly concerned about McCoy when he’s ill. McCoy’s concerned about Spock when he’s losing himself. Even after pretty much deciding to go find the portal with or without Spock, McCoy pleads with him to come back with him. He was never going to go without him. Spock was never going to be able to strand McCoy in an environment that he would be miserable in nor leave him to die. It makes the fact that they had to go back together all the more impactful. There was never any other option but that.

By the time I got to this episode when watching the show for the first time almost a year ago now, I was already leaning towards shipping Spones, but not 100% onboard. Then when I watched this… it just clicked. The amount of closeness between Spock and McCoy, how Spock tended to and was concerned about McCoy, how McCoy put himself at great risk to get Spock back to normal and wanted him to go back with him, and the whole theme that they have to go together just… really hit. Especially after watching all the episodes, all the back and forth that made me hesitant about liking them as a pair even platonically, then watching them grow, and especially after all the S3 episodes in particular with several episodes that show how much they care for each other (The Tholian Web, For the World is Hollow…, The Empath, moments in various other episodes it just felt… right. The episode is by no means perfect and we really see some of the two’s dark sides (Spock when he loses control, McCoy and how he treated Zarabeth regardless of the reason), but also jus5 how much that bond has grown after three years. From work colleagues to bickering frenemies/rivals, to genuine frenemies, to true companions who would sacrifice themselves for each other (and Jim, the whole mess happened because they had to chase after Jim). And with how this was right at the end of the show, it’s not too bad of a note for them to end on.

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