Jim Kirk looked up from the pad of paper he’d been scribbling on to the wide-eyed incredulous stare of Leonard “Bones” McCoy .
“What?”
“I thought you were actually taking notes during that lecture only to find out you’re writing that crap instead.”
Jim snorted. “Notes? You have to be kidding.”
“I don’t know, Jim. I thought maybe we came here to attend this conference to learn something. Silly me. You’re acting like a lovestruck school—”
“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence.” He leaned back in his chair. “It’s not that I don’t want to learn, Bones, but on this particular subject—”
“Hush.”
Just then the lecturer approached their table. The man, Abraham Waller, hurried over to Jim.
“Captain Kirk! What a pleasure.”
“Hello, Abraham. It’s great to see you. And please, it’s Jim.”
“Jim.” He glanced at Bones. “You must be Doctor McCoy. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Bones, looking unusually uncertain for him, shook Abraham’s hand. “Yes, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Great lecture and subject.”
“Thank you, but of course Jim’s responsible for the course material and all that I spoke of.”
Bones stared at Jim, mouth hanging open. He closed it. “Of course.”
“Jim, if you’re available this evening, my wife and I would love to meet you for dinner.”
“That would be great. Contact me later with the information and we’ll set something up.” Jim smiled.
“I will. Nice to meet you again, Doctor.”
Bones gave him a look. “You could have told me, you know.”
Jim shrugged. “And missed that shocked look on your face?”
“What could you have told the doctor?”
“Oh, hey, Spock.”
“Jim here pretty much wrote our last lecture.”
Spock nodded. “I am aware.”
“Wait, you told Spock but—”
“Bones.”
Spock glanced down at Jim’s pad. “Jim + Spock? What does that mean, Captain?”
“It means that your captain is a school—”
Jim laughed. “Actually, Abraham Waller wants to have dinner, how about you be my plus one?”
“Very well, I accept.”
Bones grimaced. “Just like that?”
“Just like what, Doctor?”
Bones sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jim just asked you out on a date, your first date, and you agreed without so much as a by your leave.”
Spock stared at him. “As a matter of fact I have gone on several dates with the captain.”
“Dates?” Bones asked, incredulous.
“Correct.”
“Dates like to dinner.”
“We often dine in the mess together.”
Bones chuckled. “That doesn’t count. That’s a group thing. Movies, romantic dinners, long walks, that kind of thing. That’s a date, Spock. Not chess or eating in the mess.”
Spock seemed to consider this. “I see. That is the only definition of dates with regard to the captain?”
Jim smirked as Bones seemed quite satisfied with the entire thing.
“Well, was there something else you consider a date, Spock?” Bones asked, grinning.
Spock shrugged. “So, the numerous occasions we engaged in sexual intercourse do not, in fact, count?”
Bones choked. “What?”
Jim rose. “You should have minded your own business, Bones. Come on, Spock. Let’s get ready for our first date according to Bones.”
When I post this all at once on AO3 (if I do so we can all collect it if we want), I’ll probably play around with chapter placement, for now, this is the chapter numbers you get.
Spock kissed Jim for a long time. Holding him close. Arms around his waist. Just kissing. He wanted no pressure on either of them. Yes, he’d brought the necessary lubricant. And yes he wished for them to do whatever they felt like doing, but…on the other hand, he didn’t want to rush Jim. Or himself. They had time.
They made it over to Jim’s single bed. Fell on to it. Lips still connected. Arms still locked around each other. A fleeting thought was that they really needed bigger beds, both of them.
During a particularly heated kiss, Spock managed to knock Jim’s glasses askew, which caused a puff of a laugh to escape from Jim’s mouth to Spock’s and somehow it was like breathing the same air.
Spock removed the glasses and put them on a little side table by Jim’s bed. Now as he drew back and looked into those sapphire eyes, Spock thought they were like the most beautiful of jewels. He felt a bit foolish thinking this but he did anyway.
Jim licked his lips and Spock watched him. He watched Jim’s every move.
“Do you want to…do what we talked about or…like the-the full thing?”
Jim’s shy question filled Spock with so much warm affection and yes, lust, that it was almost too much for a Vulcan. He put his hand on Jim’s face. Everything about him, about this human, felt perfect, felt right.
“I want…everything with you.”
“Have you-you ever—?”
“I have no more experience than you, Jim, but…I have done research and I understand the logistics.”
Jim turned a bit pink, but his smile lit up his face. “Well…as long as you understand the logistics.”
“You are laughing at me.”
Jim shook his head, but his smile widened. “No. I mean, sure, but only a little. I, uh, too did some research. And I know how it works too.”
Spock’s lips twitched. “That is good.”
Jim returned to kissing him, and all amusement fled Spock’s mind, and his thoughts turned to what would happen next.
Spock had Jim lying on his bed—not sure they’d fit on the single, but certainly willing to try—squirming underneath him as he assailed Jim’s mouth with kisses. He had managed to get his finger under Jim’s shirt and was scooting it up to reveal smooth bare skin when—
There was a rather loud knock on his dormitory door.
And right then, Jim basically freaked out. He made a yelping sound, shoved Spock off him, and scrambled to his feet. He was so red that Spock became concerned.
“Jim—”
Jim was yanking down his shirt and pressed his palm to his crotch.
Resigned as yet another knock sounded, Spock went to the door and opened it, quite aggravated at the interruption, and ready to bite the head off of whoever it was.
“Spock, I…”
His mother.
She looked past Spock and immediately saw the very embarrassed Jim looking so uncomfortable, Spock had the urge to hold him to calm him down. He could not though.
Jim had already made a beeline for the exit. His blue eyes were a bit shiny and he had reddened more if that was possible.
“Jim.”
Mother moved out of his way, because otherwise Spock was certain he’d plow right through her.
“I’ve gotta go, Spock.”
And he was gone.
Mother covered her mouth with her hand. “I’ve interrupted something rather important, haven’t I? I’m sorry, Spock. My visit to San Francisco was unexpected and I just assumed you’d be here and…alone.”
Spock exhaled very slowly. “It is pleasant to see you in any circumstances, Mother.”
“I really am sorry. He looked like a very nice young man.”
Spock nodded. “He is.”
Mother embraced him then, as was her usual way, and Spock brought her to the dining room table while he made tea, her preferred drink.
“You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend.”
He shrugged slightly. “It is a recent event and one that still included preliminary exploration.” He realized how that sounded, given on what she nearly came in on, and cleared his throat. “I will make sure all is well later. For now, I am anxious to learn the meaning of your unexpected visit.”
“It’s nothing nefarious, I assure you. A friend had business here and invited me along. I thought it would be fantastic to see you. It was last minute and I wanted to surprise you.” She smiled warmly. “I guess I have.”
“Indeed.” Spock took a sip of the tea he had made. “A friend.” Though he did not wish to think of her moving on from his father, they had been separated for some time, and the possibility was there. “A male friend?”
“Yes, Spock, my friend is male.”
He felt his jaw clench, though he wished it was not so.
“How is your father?” she asked then.
“Given circumstances, I believe he is well.”
Mother finished her tea, then made to stand. “I’m staying at the Imperial Hotel. Join me for breakfast?”
“Just you?” Spock could not help himself. It was illogical to resent his mother from trying to move on from a relationship that had not worked for her, yet, he supposed he would always be that small boy who watched his mother leave his father and somehow blamed himself.
“Just me.” She smiled as she made her way to the door. “You can bring Jim if you’d like. If he’s willing to see me after what happened tonight.”
“I will see.”
When she left his dorm, Spock did not hesitate. He would go to Jim’s dorm now that she had gone. But first, he made a quick stop at the corner market for, as Jim had said, lubricant.
Spock did not know what giddiness felt like. He’d read about it, heard about it, but as a Vulcan the idea, the concept, seemed foreign to him, and yet he wondered if the nearly ridiculous sense of pleasure at having Jim seek him out in his dorm room was akin to that giddy feeling.
He’d invited Jim to stay for dinner and yet…Spock had nothing to cook for him. He’d been meaning to go to the store, but he simply hadn’t, and all he had was the replicator. Therefore, he’d be unable to duplicate what Jim had done and cook a meal from scratch.
“Something wrong?”
Spock turned to see Jim standing just outside the kitchen, looking as gorgeous as any human or any thing really, had a right to. He’d taken too long and Jim had begun to wonder.
Spock cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, I lack the ingredients to make dinner myself. I do, however, have replicators that I am able to use to create food. They are the latest models and are quite efficient.”
Jim laughed. It was a sound that filled Spock with unexpected warmth. “Sounds fine to me. Don’t stress over it.”
“Stress?”
“You look a little harried. I’m not at all picky, Spock. You can replicate scrambled eggs and I’m okay with it.” Jim smiled. “It’s just nice spending time with you.”
“Very well.” Spock nodded. “Sit at the table and I will bring you something.”
And that’s what Spock ended up bringing for Jim. Eggs, potatoes and toast, whereas for himself he simply replicated a salad.
As he sat beside Jim at the table, Spock commented, “In truth this probably tastes better than anything I could make. I am not much of a cook as my education did not include those types of lessons.”
“Growing up in Riverside, we didn’t have fancy replicators,” Jim explained. “Never really put them in the house as my dad’s parents preferred making their own food there. Growing it too. My ex-stepfather hated to cook and refused to do it, so my brother and I had to learn or we didn’t eat.” He shrugged.
“You had a difficult childhood.”
“Only in comparison to some. Doesn’t sound like yours was that much better.”
Spock hesitated. “Perhaps not. Though I did not exactly have an abusive parent.”
“Frank was mostly emotionally abusive. Used to say we didn’t matter, that kind of thing. Hit Sam a couple of times. And me once or twice. Worst thing he did was send me to Tarsus and by the time I got off that planet of hell, he was gone.”
“That he hit you at all sickens me,” Spock replied. “If I am ever unfortunate to meet him, I will gladly punch him in the face.”
Jim laughed. “Okay. Well. I don’t really think that’s necessary. How about your parents, what were they like?”
“When I was young and Mother still lived on Vulcan, they argued a lot. My father was very strict and insisted on adhering to only the Vulcan way, which ended up being far more difficult for my mother than she anticipated. I believe that she loved him and went into the marriage with the best of intentions, but the arrival of me changed things for her.” Spock shook his head. “In the end, my father’s coldness became too much for her and she wished to take me with her to Earth, but he would not allow it, and with Vulcan elders backing him, she lost.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I was sent to the school on Tarsus IV because my father believed I had a rebellious nature that could be curbed there with instruction. When he brought me home, and later, all that happened there came to light, my mother was furious. They barely speak now.”
“That really sucks, Spock. I get where your mom is coming from, but to be fair, no one knew what would happen on Tarsus IV, so in that regard, it’s not his fault.”
Spock agreed. “Quite. But Mother is an emotional being and it was her opinion that he should have listened to her and sent me to school on Earth near her as she wanted. In any event, when I returned to Vulcan after we were evacuated, my instruction was quite regimented. I was being groomed to attend the Vulcan Science Academy.”
Jim had been attending Starfleet Academy about a week before he saw Spock. There weren’t a lot of tall, gorgeous Vulcan males on campus, of course, plus Jim recognized him from their very brief prior acquaintance.
Spock hung out with several other cadets in an area everyone called the quad. There was a large leafy tree with several benches surrounding it and it was there Jim spotted Spock on a couple of occasions.
Jim had doubts about approaching Spock. He didn’t know if he would remember Jim and if he did whether he wanted to remember Jim. He certainly knew Tarsus and those from those years was a sore subject for some.
On the other hand, Jim did recognize Spock and didn’t want to pretend otherwise, not to mention Captain Pike had specifically noted their connection. It would probably not be a good idea to ignore it.
So, when he spotted Spock separating from his group, Jim decided now was his opportunity to approach the Vulcan.
“Hello, Spock.”
Spock stopped in mid-stride and gaze blankly at him.
“Uh. Jim. James Kirk. From Tarsus Preparatory School.”
Spock gave a slight nod. “Yes, I recall. Good day to you.”
When Spock started walking again, Jim blinked in shock.
“Hey,” he called after Spock.
Spock stopped and turned around.
“I thought, you know, because we both went there, I should say hello.”
“And you have done so.” Spock paused. “I don’t mean to be rude, Mr. Kirk, but I am not looking to be part of some sort of Tarsus Preparatory School Survival Club.”
When he made to turn around, Jim laughed.
“Bullshit.”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t mean to be rude?” Jim asked, incredulous. “You sure as hell do. I never said I was looking to establish some kind of Survival Club, dude. Captain Pike told me you were here, and I saw you and thought to acknowledge you. That was it.” Jim held out his hands, palms up. “It’s absolutely no skin off mine if you want to be a jackass. Feel free to go back to your snooty friends.”
This time it was Jim who turned around to leave, every breath he took feeling steamy from irritation. The days where Jim let himself get walked over were long gone.
“Mr. Kirk.”
He almost didn’t turn around. Kind of was made at himself for doing so.
“Yeah?”
“I…apologize. You have every right to be angry with me. My behavior is uncalled for.”
Jim nodded. “Okay. See you.”
“If you would permit me, Mr. Kirk, perhaps we could go for…coffee?”
Jim should say no. But then, maybe, he’d be as dismissive of Spock as Spock had been of him. And that wasn’t Jim.
“All right, sure. But then it’s Jim. Or if you have to Kirk.”
“This way.” Spock gestured.
Jim looked at him rather sideways as they made their way off campus. “You drink coffee?”
“I do.”
“I always thought Vulcans were more of a tea drinking bunch.”
Spock shrugged. “I enjoy a cup of tea from time to time, but my preferred beverage is coffee.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
Jim was familiar with the tiny coffee shop Spock led them to as he’d been there a few times with his new friend, Bones. Well, Leonard McCoy. He’d met the doctor on the shuttle to San Francisco.
After they got coffee, Jim’s with cream and sugar, and Spock’s black, they chose a tiny wooden table next to the window.
Jim took a sip of his and then thought about the way to break up the kind of awkward silence.
So he was kind of surprised when it was Spock who spoke first.
“Was it your mother or stepdad who picked you up from the space station?”
“You remembered? Wow.” Jim smiled a little. “My mom, thankfully. Up until then we didn’t really have the best relationship. She was off planet a lot. In fact, I was there at the school thanks to him.” He shook his head. “Anyway, he’s gone. Not dead or anything, but out of our lives. We see him around Riverside sometimes though. Iowa. Where I’m from.”
And Jim turned red knowing he was babbling like a fool. Spock was definitely going to be sorry he didn’t just let Jim walk away. To cover his embarrassment, he took another drink of coffee.
“You got off all right with your dad?”
“I did, yes.”
He didn’t elaborate. Jim didn’t want to press.
Instead he said, “I don’t want to keep you if you have somewhere to be or something.”
“I do not. Not until this evening when I am meeting my friend Nyota for dinner.”
Jim knew who he meant. Nyota Uhura. She was one of the ones he spent time with by the tree in the quad. Probably his girlfriend. Jim guessed he didn’t have a right to ask.
“And you?”
Jim frowned. “Me?”
“I do not wish to keep you from something you would rather do,” Spock said. “I had been having rather a troublesome conversation just prior to your approach, so I did not react well. My apologies.”
“You wouldn’t be the first one to react badly to me,” Jim joked. But Spock did not crack a smile, not even a Vulcan one, so Jim let it go. “Anyway, no plans either. Just studying later at the library. Other than you I’ve only met Bones.”
“Bones?”
“My friend, Leonard McCoy. A doctor. Met him on the shuttle here and he’s got a dorm just down the hall from me.”
“I see.”
And Jim figured he was boring Spock clear to death. So he finished his coffee and made to stand.
“Thanks for the coffee, Spock. It was very nice of you. But I really didn’t intend to bother you. Just wanted to say hi.”
“Very well,” Spock said quietly. “Perhaps at another time, I could call on you?”
“Call on me?”
“For dinner, perhaps?” Spock paused. There was the finest tightening around his eyes. Jim almost missed it. “Unless…you are engaged in a relationship with Doctor McCoy?”
“No.” Jim shook his head rapidly. “No, I’m not.”
“Then my question still applies.”
“Yeah. Sure. Uh. Yeah.” Jim knew he sounded like a fool. “You can.”
And then he did leave the coffee shop, a little befuddled. He hadn’t thought Spock liked him at all, let alone to ask him out. Weirdest date request ever, Jim thought. And he wondered if Spock actually would follow up.
“Damn it’s c-cold. Reminds me of the time you stranded me on Delta Vega. In violation of—”
“I do apologize.” Spock paused. “Again.”
Jim gave him a mulish look. “Now see that’s when your apology seems insincere. You adding that again.”
“Captain, I suggest rather than bickering about past matters that cannot be undone, we huddle together for body heat until the Enterprise can rescue us.”
Jim bit his lip. “We can huddle in that old dilapidated building.”
Jim took a step forward and the icy ground beneath him began to crack.
Spock approached the apartment building, glancing up at the windows of the fourth floor. He entered through the double automatic doors and then rode the lift up.
Perhaps it would be a waste of his time as Spock wasn’t even sure he was home.
He turned right on the floor and stepped up to number 402. He made a fist and knocked.
After a few seconds he heard footsteps approach. Spock straightened.
The door opened and one blue eye peered out.
“Cadet Kirk?”
Kirk opened the door wider and stared out at Spock. “Yeah.”
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 