I’ve finished my two Advent Calendar entries for the KS Advent Calendar on AO3. I ended up only having time to do two of them as time got away from me. They were due on the 20th and I got them done, so go me!
I should be continuing Chess Master and Too Sexy soon. I also have to get my act together on the Christmas fic. I was gone for the weekend so that slowed me down too.
I’ve got this coming week off from work but I also have to get stuff done for Thanksgiving. After that it will be time to decorate for Christmas!
Don’t know what Christmas flashes will look like on here but I am sure I will have some done. Thanks for your patience and faith in my abilities!
First, I have to say that this site can be a real pain in the butt. Every single day I have to delete multiple spams regarding using AI or monetizing my site, etc. They really need help with the spam at WP.
Now on to the point, I am working on finishing up my two Advent Calendar entries. Yeah I dropped down to two. One has turned out to be longish and so it’s taken up more of my time than it should have. I hope to get the second one done too but I hope it will be much shorter. They are both due 11/20 and I gotta say it’s going to be close. My desire to write has STALLED a lot. I don’t exactly have writer’s block, I’d call it writer’s disinterest. And I have so much I have to write coming up. Ack.
And the next part is not going to help me get it done. I am going away on an extended weekend beginning Thursday afternoon. I’m seeing Rick Springfield/Ricard Marx and Pattie Labelle. I think I mentioned that. And am going into San Diego as well. I won’t be back until Sunday evening.
The good news is I have US Thanksgiving week off. The bad news is that it’s past the 20th so that doesn’t help me at all with the advent stuff. I am going to make a pumpkin basque cheesecake for this year’s dessert.
Luna the cat gets her cone off today as they will be removing the staples today. To make a long story short, she had been barfing and seemed to have trouble going to the bathroom so we took her to the vet *by then she was better of course*, but then the vet decided she had two loose teeth and had to have them removed as she was certain they hurt her. So we went ahead with it against our better judgement as she is 12 and the older they are the riskier it is putting them under anesthesia. She also had a fatty lipoma on the top of her head that they’d always sort of ignored when we brought it up. Just said, oh yeah that’s nothing. But we figured since she would be out anyway, have it removed. They did, which is why she has the staples and the cone. They biopsied it and it turns out it was cancerous. So yeah. The lump is gone and we are supposed to watch her to make sure it doesn’t grow back because sometimes they do, rather slowly. Anyway, that’s the deal and it’s coming off today (the cone and stitches) and we all can’t wait. I am sure she’s thinking ‘why do I have to wear this now?’ poor thing. See how sad she looks?
In the morning, Jim woke to realize Spock had been lying beside him watching him.
“Hey,” he said, his voice sounding raspy.
“I did not mean to wake you.”
“No, you didn’t. How long have you been awake?”
“Just a short time.” Spock paused. “Jim?”
“Hmm?”
“I suppose it would be premature to ask you to share my apartment.”
Jim smiled. “Yeah.”
Spock nodded.
“Are you asking?”
“I would like to.”
“Then try me.”
Spock looked slightly confused but then asked, “Will you share my apartment?”
“I would like to,” Jim responded in kind.
“Truly?”
“Sure.”
“But you said—”
“Well.” Jim shrugged. “Probably people will talk. Bones will. Maybe Uhura. Others. But really, do we care? This is our life, we get to decide.”
Spock looked thoughtful but then he inclined his head. “I am pleased you have accepted. Speaking of decisions, my parents would like to have dinner with us tomorrow night.”
“Okay.”
“You accept?”
Jim laughed. “Don’t look so surprised. I knew we would be doing that at some point. And while we are talking about it, my mother will want to meet you.”
“Have you told her about me?”
“Not yet. But she’s already hinted at having me come to Riverside for Thanksgiving. That’s just a few weeks so I thought maybe you’d like to come.”
“Of course I will.” Spock cupped Jim’s bruised cheek. “Does it hurt overmuch?”
My apologies for the delay. It’s been a challenging week. But I’m back with an update on the chess guys. So here we go. (and paid up for another year here too)
Jim wasn’t looking forward to Spock’s reaction when he noticed his injuries but he wasn’t going to hide it either. He wanted to see Spock as much as Spock apparently wanted to see him.
So he wasn’t surprised when the door of Spock’s apartment opened when his knuckles had barely rapped on the outside.
“Jim,” Spock said. “I am…what happened?”
Jim walked into Spock’s apartment, dodging Spock’s grabby fingers. He lifted his shirt to expose the bruises all along his torso. He didn’t see the point in not getting right to it.
“There was a fight.”
Spock’s dark eyes flicked up and down his body. “A fight? You can tell me about it on the way to the hospital.”
Jim laughed and backed away. “Nope. I had a doctor with me. I’ve already been treated as best I can. I’m okay, just some cuts and bruises.”
“You should sit.”
Jim didn’t argue with that and went to the couch, not surprised when Spock joined him there, and began to inspect Jim’s injuries himself.
“Who do I need to challenge?”
Jim laughed again. “No one. It’s over, okay?”
Spock’s gaze rose to focus on Jim’s face. “Explain.”
“The party was okay. Lots of chess geeks. One of them made a few stupid comments, I got pissed, and we got into a physical altercation.”
“Who and what was said?”
“That guy Chester. He said basically I was sleeping with you so I could win the chess tournament next week. Which,” Jim paused to roll his eyes, “is absurd, because I don’t even care.”
“That caused you to get into a fight?”
“No. It was when he implied that was the only reason someone would sleep with you and he called you a bunch of names and I just lost it,” Jim admitted.
“I see,” Spock said quietly.
“He’s just an ass. And you’ll be glad to hear Waincott kicked him off the chess club.” Jim smiled crookedly. “Me too, actually.”
“Jim—”
“I don’t care, Spock. All I care about is being with you. The stupid chess club is nothing. I hate bullies.”
“I have had my fair share of run-ins with bullies. When I was a child some of my schoolmates made comments on my mother.”
“What? You never say something about a guy’s mom.”
Spock nodded. “Indeed. I resorted to physical assault on the ringleader. They notified my father.”
“Did you get in trouble?”
“Not really. It was just stressed that I needed to control my emotions and remain logical.” Spock took hold of Jim’s hand. “In the future, there is no need to get into fights over insults directed at me. I would prefer you remain safe.”
“I wasn’t really in danger and I’m not going to let assholes shoot their mouths off.”
“I am requesting that you do.”
“Spock—”
“Jim.”
“I’ll try to avoid confrontations,” Jim said grudgingly.
“Thank you. And I have your assurance you are not suffering too much from your injuries?”
“Just a little sore and tired is all. But I’m really glad to be here with you.”
“I am glad too and I regret not attending the party with you.”
“Nah, you would have hated it. It was lame.”
“Perhaps, but I would have liked to have handled Chester myself.”
“I thought you wanted to avoid confrontation,” Jim said with a laugh.
“On my behalf, certainly. I can offer no such assurances when it comes to yours.”
“What? Now wait a minute.”
But Spock quieted him with a kiss and the truth was Jim didn’t mind.
Hope it is a better November than it was for me last year. But with the election…well (that is all I intend to say here about that.)
This afternoon I have Jury Duty.
My kitty is recovering from surgery she had on Wednesday. She had 4 teeth pulled. Come to find out she has only 17 out of 30 teeth because 9 just fell out at some point. Oiye. She also had a lipoma on her head and that was removed and they put staples on her poor wee head. She has to wear a cone of shame. None of us are happy.
I’ll continue with the Spirk from the chess club this month. Who knows I may feature them part of the time in December.
Still writing my advent calendar stories but have made no progress.
“What was that?” Leonard “Bones” McCoy demanded sharply as they heard the rustling of leaves or maybe rats.
James T. “Call Me Jim” Kirk laughed. “Who knows?”
“Why are we here again?”
Good question, really.
They were traipsing through a very dark park at close to midnight.
“And why are there no lights?”
“Power’s out over half the city,” Jim reminded his friend.
“Oh, sure. So when there’s a major power outage we should make sure to go skipping through some dark secluded park. Makes sense to me.”
“When I agreed to come I didn’t know there’d be an outage. And aren’t you the one who declared it was just a park, nothing spooky about it.”
“Well, it sure as hell is spooky now.”
Jim took pity on Bones. “You can go back if you want. I’m okay by myself.”
“Sure when they find your body with your throat ripped out or your guts oozing out I’ll feel real good about having gone home.”
“Geez, drama much?”
“I don’t like this, Jim. Which is why I agreed to come with you in the first place. You shouldn’t meet some stranger for the first time on your own. He could be a serial killer or something.”
“Mm. I know, you told me.”
“Why couldn’t he meet you some place normal? A public restaurant? The movies? Come to our apartment so I can grill him?”
“That’s probably why. He heard I had a mother hen living with me and you scare him off.”
Bones glanced at him. “You told him about me?”
“Of course. We’ve been talking nearly every night for there months. You come up in conversations sometimes.”
“Computer talk or talk talk?”
“I think I understand. At first just on computers and text on communicators. But then voice conversations.”
“So you have heard his voice?”
“Mm hmm. And a great voice he has.”
“Spare me. Still think it’s weird. What’s his name?”
“Spock.”
“Odd.”
“Told you, he’s Vulcan.”
A twig or something snapped near by and they both froze. It sounded loud in the darkness. Jim raised his flashlight, illuminating the area. But there was nothing in the beam of light.
He did notice he had reached the clearing where he was supposed to meet Spock. But there was no sign of anyone but him and Bones.
“Think he spotted me and made a run for it?” Bones asked, with some amusement.
“Could be. You are scary.” Jim sighed. “Spock? You there?”
But the only sound was their own breathing.
“I’ll wait a few minutes, I guess.”
But first ten and then fifteen minutes passed. No sign of Spock or anyone.
“Maybe the power outage prevented him from coming,” Jim said to Bones.
“Could be,” Bones said non-committedly.
He looked like he felt a little bad for Jim, and honestly Jim felt a little bad himself. Jim wasn’t used to being stood up. And he really liked Spock, from what he knew about him.
Jim sighed. “Let’s go home. No point in waiting out here for no one.”
“I’m sorry, Jim.”
“It’s all right, Bones.”
They made it out of the park and toward their apartment without any incident, though Jim thought he heard some weird noises along the way.
Once he even said to Bones, “You don’t hear wings flapping, do you?”
“What now? Wings flapping?”
Jim just laughed. “Guess not.”
The power was still out when they got to their apartment so Jim just went straight to his room. He had no communication from Spock, which disappointed him further.
Hours later he woke to a sound in his room. Jim bolted upright.
“Who’s there?”
“Do not be alarmed. It is Spock.”
Jim blinked. “Spock? How did you…”
A light beside his bed switched on and a tall, dark-haired man with pointy-ears all dressed in black stood near.
“I apologize for not being able to make our rendezvous.”
Jim swallowed. “How did you know where I live? How did you get into my room?”
It was then he noticed the open window. But that made no sense as his apartment was on the third floor.
His gaze flew back to Spock and it must have been his imagination as Spock’s dark eyes seemed to glow.
“My roommate—”
Spock shook his head. “I have already taken care of him.”
“Taken care of him? What?”
“He is unharmed,” Spock clarified. “I merely meant he will not interfere.”
“Interfere? With what?”
Spock held out his hand and as Jim stared into those glowing dark eyes, he rose from his bed and placed his hand trustingly in Spock’s.
Spock drew him close and lowered his mouth toward Jim’s neck.
Probably the end of these flashes for this month. I’ll pick it up again in November. Reminder, I do have an unrelated Halloween flash for Thursday.
Bones looked at Jim after he spoke to Spock. “What are you going to tell him when he sees this?” He gestured to Jim’s black eye and cut him.
Jim held the werewolf mask in his hand.
“The truth.”
“That’ll be refreshing,” Bones cracked as they left the party. He had dressed as the mummy to kind of match Jim in his old Hollywood type monster costumes. “How are those ribs I bandaged?”
“Painful but manageable.”
“Maybe we should go by the hospital.”
“Nah, they aren’t broken. Just bruised.”
“Think he’ll be mad?”
Jim shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not like I was looking for it. If that guy hadn’t opened his big mouth—”
“I know. He’s a douchebag. I think you still should have let me stick him with a hypo.”
Jim laughed. “We both know you’re way too ethical for that.”
“I could have given him a good case of the shi—”
“Bones.” He laughed again. “Not that I don’t appreciate it. But no. And here we are at the dorm, so good night.”
“All right but let me know when you get to Spock’s.”
“I will. Like five minutes. I promise.”
“Okay. That was a sucky party anyone. Worse beer I ever had.”
“Same, Bones. Same. Talk soon.”
He waved at Bones and headed to Spock’s, ready to face the Vulcan’s million questions, he was sure.
“What’s on your mind Spock?” Nyota asked him as she sipped her soda across from him while they met for dinner. “You seem particularly lost in thought.”
“I believe it is possible I made an error in judgement.”
She looked surprised. “You? How?”
“Tonight was a Halloween Costume Party and Jim is attending with his friend Leonard McCoy. I did not wish to go.”
She nodded. “Was he upset?”
“Not at all. It was his suggestion from the beginning that I would not need to attend. But now I am questioning whether I made the correct choice.”
Nyota shrugged. “I admire him for giving you that out. That was good. He recognized that it wasn’t what you would enjoy doing and told you it was all right not to attend.”
“Indeed,” Spock agreed. “But in relationships is it not normal to often have to participate in something you prefer not to do in order to support or spend time with the other?”
“Oh certainly. But it sounds like Jim didn’t mind.”
“What would you have done?”
She remained silent for a few seconds, then sighed. “We are not the same person, Spock. And Vulcans are different from Humans.”
“You would have gone.”
“I would have. But that doesn’t mean you should have. Like I said, I give him props for recognizing it was something you wouldn’t feel comfortable doing. He went with a friend. I don’t think you did anything wrong and neither should you. If you want, you can contact him and offer to see him after the party is over. But, honestly, Spock, you’re fine.”
Spock decided after dinner to contact Jim to see him after as Nyota had suggested. He found himself quite relieved when Jim picked up his communication device nearly right away.
“Hey Spock!”
Spock could hear a lot of noise in the background.
“You are having a good time?”
“Hm? Well. It’s okay. What’s up?”
“I was wondering, if after the party, you would wish to see me. Perhaps come to my apartment? However, if you are too tired or having too good of a time—”
“No, that sounds good actually,” Jim said quickly. “I think Bones and I are ready to get out of here anyway. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you soon.”
They were leaving the hall where they’d just had another chess match, Jim won again, but admittedly he used certain methods to distract Spock, when Jim saw the sign outside.
He stopped to read all about a Halloween Party the club planned to host.
“You are not interested in such frivolities, are you?” Spock asked, sounding somewhat, amusedly so, alarmed.
Jim laughed. “You bet I am.” He eyed Spock. “Not you though huh?”
“I have no particular desire to pretend to be something I am not.” Spock paused. “But you enjoy that experience?”
“Yep. I love a fantasy life. Life’s far too short not to have fun with it. I’m going.” Jim shook his head. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to come.”
“No?”
“Look, I’m not the clingy type who has to drag his boyfriend along everywhere he goes.” Jim paused as he considered his words. He turned a little red. “You know, if-if that’s an appropriate word to use.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Yeah. I mean so far we haven’t really labeled it. Us. So.” He shrugged.
“I think it is an appropriate designation.”
Jim smiled. “Okay then. So anyway, I’ll get Bones to go with me. That way you won’t feel obligated.”
“If you are sure.”
“Very. Bones will love it.”
They began walking again, leaving the sign behind.
Spock glanced his way. “What will you dress up as?”
“Hmm. A Harem girl?” He laughed at Spock’s expression. “Kdding. A Werewolf, I think.”
“A fictional monster vulnerable to a silver bullet.”
“That’s the one. I’ll try to avoid any of those.”
Spock nodded. “If that is the sort of event you look forward to, then I am happy you are able to attend.”
Jim laughed again. “Uh-huh. That’s a sort of weird, backhanded attempt at being supportive.”
“Jim—”
“Hey, I’m joking. Not everything has to be so serious, Spock.”
Spock pursed his lips, but he nodded. “Do try to stay out of trouble.”
“I’m an exemplary citizen. I never get into trouble.”
Spock arched a brow, but provided no further comment.
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 