#spock is a great friend

[hummingbird-of-light]

Against All Odds

Part 211

McCoy

He had never been as proud to be a McCoy as he did when his mother hugged Scotty close to comfort him. He glanced over and shared a smile with his father. McCoy could only hope to someday be half as good with people as his mother.

When Scotty moved back by him, he was ready and slipped his arm around his boyfriend’s waist.

“Did you boys have a nice day away?” David asked.

“Yes,” Scotty answered before McCoy could.

“Have you heard from your family?” David continued.

McCoy nodded as Scotty answered “yes” again.

“We called them. They’re…” Scotty shrugged. “…as good as can be.”

“If they need help with anything- keeping reporters away- please let me know,” David told Scotty. “We will be more than willing to help.”

McCoy gently squeezed Scotty’s side as he nodded slowly.

“Let’s go eat boys,” Eleanor said. “Scotty, I didn’t know your favorite dinner, so I asked the kitchen to make Leonard’s.”

“Mother…” McCoy protested jokingly.

They followed the king and queen into the dining room. Leah and Jim and Spock were already sitting, talking quietly. Dr. Boyce entered a moment after McCoy and Scotty. They had just sat down when Sarek and Amanda came in.

Dinner began quietly, but between Leah and Jim, they got the table talking, and laughing. McCoy was happy to hear the first laugh out of Scotty. He could only imagine how uncomfortable Scotty might feel coming back to the room and people he had run from that morning.

Under the table, McCoy eased his foot around the inside of Scotty’s. He wanted something more than just their knees bumping. Scotty looked up at him and McCoy smiled. Scotty smiled back at him and his heart fluttered like it hadn’t since the night they had first said they loved each other.

Warmth crept up McCoy’s neck and he looked back at his plate. How could Scotty still make him flush?

“What did ye have in mind Jim?” Scotty asked across the table.

“We thought…” Jim glanced at Spock, who gave the slightest nod, “We thought maybe a swim and then some games? Billiards or cards?”

That sounded good to McCoy, but he looked at Scotty. He had shown his boyfriend the pool when he had shown him around the palace, but they had yet to go for a swim. From Archer’s lessons and McCoy’s help, Scotty had become a decent swimmer.

“Aye,” Scotty agreed slowly. “What about ye lassie? Are you joining us?”

“Oh,” Leah said, looking up. “You guys have fun. I, uh, have a book I want to finish.”

McCoy kept from grinning. He knew his sister was going to call Robbie. Scotty had asked her to and she had said she’d been planning on it.

His smile faded a bit as he remembered why Scotty had asked her to. He glanced again at Scotty and saw the hints of sadness still in his eyes. It had lessened since that morning, but it was still there. McCoy hoped a good evening of fun and friends would help more.

McCoy couldn’t stop himself from the admiring look he gave Scotty when he pulled his shirt off poolside. With heat on his face he pulled his eyes away. The last few evenings they had been tired and gone almost straight to sleep. McCoy suddenly wished they weren’t spending time with Jim and Spock and could just go straight up to his room.

He turned his back on Scotty and took a deep breath as he pulled his own shirt over his head. Jim’s laughter reached him as he breathed out. He and Spock were just entering the room.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you swim yet Scotty,” Jim said, clapping his hand on Scotty’s shoulder.

“He’s getting pretty good,” McCoy said proudly.

“Wanna race?” Jim asked.

“I’m not that good yet Jimbo,” Scotty chuckled.

“Oh, well, then we should race. I’ll be able to beat someone!” Jim grinned then laughed loudly.

“He can’t beat me or Leah or Spock,” McCoy told Scotty. “Though he’s desperately tried.”

“I will race for you if you would like Scotty,” Spock offered.

McCoy snorted back a laugh, seeing a twinkle of amusement in Spock’s eye.

“You think I’m fast,” McCoy said to Scotty, “you haven’t seen Spock.”

“Vulcans are stronger than humans,” Jim protested. “It isn’t really a fair race!”

“Jim,” Spock said, “I have given you half a lap head start.”

“And ye still can’t win?” Scotty teased.

“Whatever,” Jim said. “I still dive the best.”

“That’s what you think,” McCoy muttered under his breath. “Come on,” he said out loud. “Let’s get in already.”

Part 212

Scotty

Dinner had been a nice and happy affair with Leah and Jim cheering him up, making jokes. Scotty was grateful that he had friends like them.

When Spock offered to take his place in the race, Scotty couldn't help but be surprised though. He liked the Vulcan, he really did, but he never expected him to be that much of a friend.

They got into the water and Scotty relaxed when he felt how warm it was. The pool at school was usually a little bit chilly.

It had been some time since the Scotsman had last taken a swim. He didn't need classes with Archer anymore since the teacher had claimed that he was good enough now, so he didn't have the chance yet to get back into it.

At home he hadn't dared to visit the lido all by himself or with his friends. He was still a little bit insecure about everything. But with Leonard and the others it was different. He knew that they'd understand if he was slow and careful.

Scotty let himself float on the back for a moment. He wanted to get used to this pool first.

Even with his ears underwater, he heard Jim starting a water fight with the other boys. They yelled and laughed loudly - at least Jim and Leonard did.

Scotty moved his body into an upright position and swam at the spot, watching the boys start to chase each other. He wanted to join them, but he didn't feel that safe yet.

His eyes fell on Spock who was swimming a few laps to get warm. Maybe Scotty should try to swim next to the Vulcan first.

He waited for Spock to arrive at the spot he was currently at and then started to follow.

Spock seemed to notice as he reduced his speed a little bit and turned his head to look at Scotty.

"You've gotten way better Scotty."

"Thanks, I try," the Scotsman admitted with a slight blush. It was strange for him to be complimented for something that others could do quite easily.

They swam for a while before they eventually joined in and played tag with Leonard and Jim. It was fun even though Scotty noticed that his friends had to adjust their speed to his own.

Before Scotty knew it Spock and Jim had left them alone to get a room set for their game night. Jim told them to take all the time they wanted with a wink and Scotty chuckled at Leonard rolling his eyes.

They both knew what Jim was going on about.

Still, they decided to follow his advice and took their time. They swam beside each other, exchanging warm smiles and looks.

Until suddenly they didn't anymore. Leonard hugged him from behind and Scotty turned in his boyfriend's arms.

He smiled as Leonard ran a hand down his wet face. Scotty placed his own hand at the back of Leonard's head and buried his fingers in his hair.

A moment later, their lips crushed and their tongues entangled.

Scotty felt Leonard's arms wrap around him and he really wondered how they didn't drown with their legs starting to entangle too.

More wild kisses followed and for a moment Scotty couldn't think of anything else than that moment. He felt his heart beating out of his chest, heat running through his body, blood rushing through his veins.

It almost felt like they were flying, the water around them seemed to vanish into thin air.

When they eventually stopped their kissing and gasped for air, Scotty felt like the first genuine smile spread across his face that day.

He felt happy. He felt relieved.

"Tha gaol agam ort!" Scotty pressed another kiss to Leonard's lips. "I love ye so much."

"And I love you."

For a moment they just stayed like that, just staring into each other's eyes.

"I... I guess the others are waiting for us," Scotty said breathlessly and Leonard nodded, chuckling.

"Yeah, we... we should get going."

Though Scotty would have loved to stay, he had to agree. Still, he pulled Leonard close again to whisper something into his ear.

"Maybe... we'll continue this after game night?"

He saw the blush on Leonard's surprised face before it turned into a smile.

"Sounds great."

[lichqueenlibrarian]

That Uhura knows Spock well enough to see him do this, know that he knows it’s not going to do any good, and that that means the situation is dire…

[definitelynotshouting]

spirk amok time walked so scarian third life could run and now they both go jogging together in the desert send tweet

[worfianism]

Listen whoever decided to pair up La'an and an alternate version of Jim Kirk in a romcom style classic time travel episode actually galaxy brained. Freaking great episode.

[galehautstomb]

having the mind boggling realization that icemav is quite literally just spirk in pewpew fighter pilot font with the colors palettes reversed

[pinazee]

(Kirk and Spock held captive)

Kirk: thats not going to work. I cant watch him die. You’ll have to kill me first.

Spock: if you think I am going to sit here and die, after watching you die with some ridiculous grin on your face… (to their captor) And do you have just the one hypo? Do you plan on sterilizing in between uses?

Kirk: surely you cant be serious

Spock: i do not know where all you have been, captain.

[mango-meister]

The audio book for the Vulcan’s Forge book read by Leonard Nimoy for free on YouTube.

[vulcanhello]

[croc-odette]

i think this is how the spock/chapel storyline should go. down to elliot’s haircut

[dustykneed]

i just think spock has great mom friend potential tbh. strong contender for the cutest thing i've ever drawn

[essekknits]

I have to say, I came into Star Trek expecting to love Spock from the get go. And I do!!! He’s great!!!

What I didn’t come in expecting is to love James Kirk nearly as much as I already do, three episodes in.

Also can I just say, I love that they all feel genuinely friendly??? Like, Kirk and McCoy clearly have A History! They’re friends! They argue and bicker sometimes but there’s also trust in each other’s judgement! Kirk and Spock play chess together in their free time! Spock plays a musical instrument, and when Uhura starts humming under her breath, he changes the song so she can join in and sing!!! And she teases him with the song and he doesn’t seem disturbed or bothered!!! It’s a normal occurrence!!! This is just Something They Do!!!

Three episodes into Star Trek TOS, and into the entire Star Trek universe as a whole, and I’m already having so much fun with these characters. I love them. I care for them. I want them to succeed and be happy and be friends.

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Today on popping the corn and feeding the children, what do you folks think of this discussion? :)

I'm always curious to hear what other Trek fans, especially queer Trek fans, think about our place in Trek history and how we fare as the queer participants within our fandom. What have your experiences been like?

Overwhelmingly I've found a great reception and a welcoming attitude, but I admit that has increased considerably since the 90s. However, there are still some Trek fans who seem to be vehemently in denial about queer history in Star Trek, or the fact that anyone who has worked on Trek has pro-LGBT attitudes. This always surprises me considering some of the blatant queer content we have already seen in Star Trek such as the Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn kiss.

Anyway, I enjoyed the discussion that followed and seeing the overwhelming outpouring of support coming from Star Trek fans in response to this thread.

Here was my two cents contribution:

"No, what they said was factual.

Have you forgotten Nichelle Nichols was indeed an African American woman in the core seven bridge crew back in 1966?

Or the fact that Gene Roddenberry went out of his way to write The Motion Picture Novel, creating the term "T'hy'la: friend, brother, lover" so that fans could choose which interpretations of Kirk and Spock they saw fit? He also embraced K/S fans and hired a number of them to write the earliest Star Trek novels, including the very first official one (The New Voyages Vol. 1 & 2) which included slash fiction as well as Gene's approval/forward in the books.

In case anyone has forgotten, here's a little bit of background on Gene Roddenberry and his perspectives on queerness in Star Trek.

He admitted that in his early life he was very affected by how society and culture treated the LGBT community, and that he too found himself subjugating and judging others for that lifestyle because it was what people did at that time. As he got older and had more life experience, he began working with a number of queer artists in Hollywood -- and through TOS, a number of queer individuals began asking questions about Kirk and Spock.

Instead of vehemently shutting down this perspective, Roddenberry was intrigued, and saw potential to tap into a large audience (LGBT) that most others didn't want to go near or acknowledge publicity-wise. He saw it as an opportunity to expand the fanbase while also pushing yet another envelope.

But with the heat already on the show for what they'd already pushed, he found he was often stuck between what he'd like to do and what production would let him get away with. There are a number of Kirk and Spock scenes in scripts that got cut out for leaning a little too obviously romantic. Tiny trickles of that content still made it in were infamous moments like the backrub scene in Shore Leave. Even the 2009 movie had a K/S moment while Spock Prime and Kelvin Spock talked that was written and filmed that was cut out of the final product.

Queer subtext and coding has always been relentlessly weeded away at with an excuse ready to go for why they always try to cut us out, but we all know it's because they are scared of the homophobic backlash and ratings hits. Look how violently homophobes went after the gay romance episode of The Last of Us **just this year**. This has always been our reality, so for someone like Roddenberry to make efforts in the 70s? That was massive.

But Gene as well as the queer/slash Trek community managed to accomplish some things in the 70s which I'm surprised more folks don't talk about or give much credit.

In the same TMP novel which features "T'hy'la" and the famous footnote, Gene cleverly wrote Kirk with a bisexual/pansexual lens: Kirk describes himself as *preferring* women but being open to "physical love in **any** of its many Earthly, alien, and mixed forms." (Direct quote from Genes book). Basically, Captain Kirk was DTF with whoever if there was a connection, which was a very progressive take for a character in a novel written in 1979, but made sense for the future which would have a lot less hang ups about sex and love compared to our current rather puritan/conservative society.

I also prefer women, but I married a man. Shout out to Gene Roddenberry for giving us a seat at the table back in the 70's when folks *still* try to insist there is no place for K/S or queer concepts in Trek, because he made efforts -- however small -- to employ queer people and show queer perspectives. According to David Gerrold, LGBT+ representation was a big thing that Gene personally pushed for in TNG and wanted various depictions of love/couples in the Risa scenes, to name one example.

In the 70s, fanzines led to meetings and swapped fanmade magazines, which got so big that they needed hotel centers, then convention centers, then one day the TOS cast came to one and what we know as modern fan conventions were born -- inspiring even George Lucas who attended Trek conventions in the 70s and saw how popular Trek was in syndication; it was a great climate to launch his Space Opera. Star Wars then became so huge that we got TMP.

But none of that would have happened without the level of organization, passion, and creativity that those fans poured into Star Trek and their characters after it got cancelled and went into syndication.

Without queer folks we wouldn't have George Takei, Theodore Sturgeon who gave us Tribbles, Bill Theiss and his amazing TOS costumes, Mike Minor's art direction, Merritt Butrick, David Gerrold (writer for TOS, TAS, TNG) to name a few of many queer contributors to Trek that Roddenberry respected and tried to go to bat for wherever he could in a climate that was absolutely impossible to gain an inch in.

At a time during the 70s and 80s when so many people resented and feared the queer community and wanted us to disappear, especially in the 80s during the AIDS epidemic which many homophobes claimed was "God's punishment to the gay community" or "Gods's answer" to our "hedonism", thinking we'd gotten our just desserts and should just disappear . . .

During that time, Gene Roddenberry gave us queer folks a place to say: "You know what? Sure. Write your stories. TV says you guys shouldn't exist, they pull books with queer people off the shelves and burn them. Laws exist specifically to forbid you guys from loving each other, and call you mentally ill. You can't even hold hands in public. But I'm going to validate you guys and invite you to write novels or work for me, try to see what we can get by production, and allow you to see yourselves in my characters if you want to. There's a place for you in our fandom."

He gave us bi/pan Kirk, he gave us K/S is open to interpretation. In Phase 2 Kirk's surviving nephew Peter, son of his brother Sam from Operation: Annihilate!, was going to be written as gay and living on the Enterprise with his partner -- that also got chopped and reworked into a script that wouldn't get used until decades later. That was huge at a time that being queer was officially listed as a mental illness, and villainized due to the AIDS crisis.

So before you try to dismiss or tell K/S + queer Trek fans whether or not they deserve a seat at the table, remember that Gene Roddenberry was among the **first** to pull that seat out for us in a climate that was ruthlessly against LGBT+ folks." -- 1Shirt2ShirtRedShirtDeadShirt

P.S: Have some cute bisexual/pansexual K/S pride gifs. :) Pride month is a hop, skip and a jump away.

LLAP!🖖💚

[sofiadragon]

Tag and comment harvest:

I'm feeling so normal right now I promise. Spock touching Jim and Jim's probably thinking about chess and how cute Spock is. Cultural norms being different between species? Never heard of him.

Spock in his quarters later: I should send my great-grandfather a letter.

Solkar when he gets the letter: I don't know what Sarek was on about, this kid's a chip off the block. What excuse can I make up to drag my old bones out to visit him?

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.06 - Lost in Translation

[icantspellthings]

*Blue glitter pen in hand*

Heyyyy~ 🩵Captain Jim🩵

You are a very illogical and infuriating person, but nonetheless, you possess great intellect, wit and charm which I find pleasing, I consider our interpersonal relationship to be adequate, and I would even regard you as a friend. I desire to begin a romantic relationship with you if you are amenable.

Please check the box below as confirmation

□ YES □ NO

Live long and prosper~ 💚

Yours truly, S'chn T'gai Spock

[ifdragonscouldtalk]

"Commander Spock!"

"Cadet Kirk," Spock acknowledged as he turned, watching him drag his friend closer by force, grinning and waving with his free hand. Spock wasn't sure whether he liked Kirk or not yet, but Kirk had certainly decided that he liked Spock, and given they were both proteges of Captain Pike, they saw each other fairly often.

"Hey, it's great I ran into you! Chris wanted me to-"

When Spock turned to look at the friend Kirk had dragged with him, likely the infamous 'Bones', all other sensory input stopped. It was like electroshock to the brain, lighting up his bonding center and making his skin tingle, and the longer the man met his eyes the more breathless he felt. This was his intended, his one true love as his Mother had always described. He could taste it in the air. He was so absorbed in the beauty of the man's eyes that he hardly noticed the deepening scowl on his lips.

"Jim," he interrupted breathlessly, both the tone and the first use of his casual name stopping the exuberant cadet in his tracks, "who is your friend?"

He could barely see Kirk's smirk out of the corner of his eye. "This? This is my boyfriend, Bones."

The man broke eye contact with Spock to glare at Jim, and Spock had to blink several times to catch his bearings. "I told you to stop telling everyone I'm your boyfriend. We ain't dating! And my name ain't Bones."

"Is your boyfriend single?" Spock asked, glancing at Jim and feeling somewhat like a slavering dog, begging for a meal.

"Uhm," Jim responded, and then burst out laughing, while Bones caught his eye again with a bewildered look, exclaiming "What?"

How did Humans do this again?

Spock dropped down to his knees, then frowned at himself. "I do not have a ring. I know it is traditional. I will acquire you a ring. Will you marry me?"

Bones said nothing, staring in abject shock. It was true this was fast even for Vulcans. Several moments to process would be acceptable. "Is that Commander Spock? What is he doing?" he heard another cadet nearby mutter, but paid it no mind.

Through hysterical laughter, Jim managed to choke out, "Has he lost his fucking mind? Spock, are you sick?"

"Oh Christ!" Bones muttered, yanking a tricorder out of his bag to scan him. Of course, he was a doctor. A perfect profession to be his lifemate and challenge him intellectually, and to ensure his fragile health as a hybrid. Destiny and fate perhaps did exist.

"You need time to think," Spock said, rising smoothly to his feet once more. "I will acquire a ring. Rings are traditional."

"He doesn't like rings," Jim said, laughter gone and now starting to look worried.

"A necklace then! Perhaps vokaya," Spock said happily. "A necklace is traditional for Vulcan engagements. This is acceptable."

"Commander, do you even know his name?"

Spock blinked, looking between the two momentarily, entranced by the cute, concerned furrow between Bones' brow. "Bones. He is your boyfriend."

"Uh. No and no," Bones said, glaring at the results on the tricorder. "Dammit, these readings are all out of whack, Jim!"

"Chris says that's normal," Jim replied, though he looked worried. "Spock, I was joking. He's not my boyfriend, he's just my roommate. And his name is Leonard."

"McCoy," Leonard added gruffly, running another tricorder scan.

"Leonard McCoy," Spock almost sighed, tasting the name of his beloved on his tongue and feeling inordinately like his mother. He was unsure why they both looked so alarmed. "Then your boyfriend is single, Jim?"

"Uh yeah, 'cause he's not my boyfriend."

"Don't encourage his delusion!" Leonard snapped. "He's way too young for Bendii, and I'd swear Vulcans aren't prone to delusions or hallucinations-"

"You need time to think," Spock said. "You are both worried. I am of sound mind. I will go locate an appropriate necklace and come back to properly propose, Leonard."

"Commander, wait-!"

[leehallfae]

the devil in the dark is a great episode for sooooo many reasons but something i particularly love is its characterization of kirk & spock, especially how the story juxtaposes their initial attitudes vs. their actions as well as juxtaposing them against one another. for most of the episode, kirk is very firmly situated in the command role: he’s laser-focused on his goal of eliminating whatever has been killing the miners. he has a plan & he sticks to it. he can’t afford to entertain ideas about capturing the creature for scientific study rather than killing it, because that introduces more risk to his crew. his mission is to protect as many lives as possible, full stop.

however, when he sees the horta in that cave, his first instinct isn’t to shoot. he’s wary of course, brandishing a phaser for his own safety, but he’s also curious & gentle. he studies her with wonder shining in his eyes. his movements mirror her own—he immediately picks up on the fact that she isn’t necessarily hostile towards him, & in response, he slowly, carefully, sets aside his own hostility as well. he speaks to her, makes little jokes. he watches her in perpetual amazement & intrigue, very cautiously extending a metaphorical hand to say, i don’t want to hurt you. it’s a big leap from “your orders are shoot to kill,” & that reveals a lot about kirk. he’s a good commander, he knows how to handle a dangerous situation while minimizing risk to his crew, but he’s also curious. kind. optimistic. gentle. in the heat of the moment, when he’s the only one at risk, his basic instinct doesn’t say fight, it says listen.

meanwhile, spock is immensely intrigued by the horta; he regrets that it will most likely be necessary to kill her in order to protect themselves. he spends most of the episode speculating on the fascinating science of a silicone-based life form. he even (very subtly) challenges kirk’s order by telling the security team to capture the creature if possible. he isn’t eager to use force, because he simply isn’t that kind of person—he’s curious by nature, like kirk. so it seems a great shift when, upon hearing that the horta is near kirk, he shouts through the communicator, “kill it, captain! kill it!”

realizing that kirk is in danger is like flipping a switch. the way he carries himself changes in an instant. urgency flares to life in his eyes & voice. as wild with it as a vulcan can get. freezing in place, then breaking into a run, calling out, forgetting rank. to him, the most preferable—the most logical—course of action is not to explore why the horta has not attacked the captain yet; rather, it is to eliminate the threat to kirk as soon as possible.

in a way, they represent both a reversal & a mirror of each other in this episode. kirk is a decisive & capable fighter, but his instincts steer him towards gentler things. spock prioritizes scientific inquiry & discovery, but it all appears inconsequential when his friend’s life is on the line. they balance each other, complement each other. it’s why they’re such a good command team. it’s why they fall so easily into such a deep bond. both of them, ultimately, act from a place of love.