#at least i think they were supposed to be kirk and mccoy ...

[vonnebenan]

I was just leafing through my sketchbook and found … this:

And now I'm a bit confused because I have no idea when or why I drew this …

[yuttikkele]

S2E1 Amok Time: AKA we finally get to learn more about the vulcans because spock's on his period. or he's going through heat. whichever terminology makes this synopsis funnier to you.

alright here we go. the episode i have been recommended to watch the most. could it possibly be gayer than "when i feel friendship for you, i'm ashamed." ?

OH MY GOSH. MOODY MUCH, SPOCK? Yelling, throwing the bowl at the wall, storming out of the room. Well, at least he didn’t overreact guys.

DID THE OPENING THEME CHANGE?? It’s gotten more EPIC. and VOCAL-LY. DEFOREST KELLEY MENTION

Theodore Sturgeon and Joseph Pevney, do you know what you’ve done?

The brattiness of Spock is transferring over to Jim. The repeat of “In all the years that I’ve known you” was despicable.

Spock pulling the “I am fine” card is so awful bro EVERYONE knows you’re not fine.

*spock gets called off of the bridge* Ooooo. Mr. Spock’s in troubleeeee.

Spock looks like an adult that has to go to the doctor alone for the first time.

WHY DID SULU LOOK SO WORRIED WHEN CHEKOV SAID HE WAS GONNA GET SPACE SICK BAHAHAHA

Well chekov I’m sorry to say I think we might be changing course again.

Why did Spock even wait this long to try and get to Vulcan

“No use to ask him, Jim, he won’t talk.” Watch him talk.

DOES SPOCK HAVE A DAUGHTER??? (yutti note. That was not his daughter that was younger T’Pring)

“It has to do with biology.” WOAH. REALLY SPOCK? I HAD NO IDEA! IT'S LIKE THIS WHOLE TIME WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT YOUR BIOLOGY. /sarcasm

Well look at that. He talked.

I think this is supposed to be a comedic scene or something but the unfitting doom and gloom music over it somehow makes it even FUNNIER. Like the biology of Vulcans is REALLY scary guys… you better watch out..

The way Vulcans chose their mates ISN’T logical? Well color me surprised I wasn’t expecting that. (yutti note. it's not logical but they've set up traditions that make it logical. they done loopholed it into being logical)

Jim is really considering this. This Vulcan biology. He’s thinking hard about it.

I wanna know who thought, “Aw yeah, we need a whole episode dedicated to talking about Spock’s sex life.” that resulted in this episode existing.

what is this whole thing with nurse chapel and spock

“By tradition the male is accompanied by his closest friend.” D’awwww

DANG THAT WOMAN IS GORGEOUS (t'pring)

EVERYONE SIDE EYEING AND LOOKING AT EACH OTHER LIKE THOSE STANTWT MEMES WHEN SPOCK SAYS “my wife” BAHAHAHAHA

“Hot as Vulcan” yeah now I know what that phrase means too, McCoy (I have never heard that phrase before)

Arranged marriage at the ripe age of 7 years old? Ok I guess. whatever you say

*POINTS AT SCREEN* OH OH OH THAT’S THE HAND SIGN!!! 🖖🖖

T'Pau: “How do you pledge their behavior?” Spock: “With my life.” Kirk: *looks over at McCoy*. KIRK DO NOT CAUSE SPOCK TO DIE.

“What is it what happened?” Kirk says just like I do at football games.

That one Vulcan background guy (Stonn) is so funny why does he keep looking around like HE doesn’t know what’s going on.

I wanna know WHY she chose Kirk. Did she not want the other guy (stonn) no more? Is she just doing this for fun? Did she feel threatened by Kirk, so she wants Spock to kill him? “Oh? You like him so much? Kill him so I have your full loyalty." type beat?

Spock is managing to talk trying to protect Jim :00

Sorry to interrupt the mating ritual, but Spock’s hitting an insanely devious pose rn

Oh of course Kirk immediately gets a boob window

They're bleeding. His bibis are bleeding.

NO SPOCK. SPOCK’S MORTIFIED. SPOCK IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT, IT’S VULCAN BIOLOGY.

spock were you jealous of ston just then??

Oh miss girl T’Pring had this ALL worked out. Not in Spock’s favor obviously. But a girl gotta do what a girl gotta do.

Did Spock just tell Stonn that having T’Pring isn’t as marvelous as it seems? With T’Pring right there?? BRO.

SPOCK WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE JIM awwww

MCCOY YOU GENIUS. I would’ve been saying bye bye to Kirk then and there. all "guess we'll have to find a new captain" and everything. good thing he's a doctor.

“When I thought I had killed the captain, I had lost all interest in T’Pring.” Gaywad.

ohhh ok so, Spock told Stonn having isn't as good as wanting not because he dislikes t'pring or dislikes having her, but because he got over his vulcan heat or whatever and no longer was drawn to her. ok that makes more sense. still a little bit of a diss to her but whatever. really can't possibly be worse than having to live married to a man who's never there

Ooo a new end credits too!!

ok. gonna be honest. my thoughts? i don't feel like this was entirely incredibly that gay. it was gay, but I don't think it was gayer than "when i feel friendship for you, i'm ashamed." and i might get yelled at for this deduction and told about how it is oh so gay and i might be like "oh i didn't notice that, that is very gay!" but i think one thing stays the same: there's just nothing gayer than yearning.

HOWEVER. upon a rewatch (because i decided to rewatch it without taking notes cause i felt like that was distracting me from the show), i realized something. now let me get this straight. spock went into heat. he very clearly stated that he must mate or die. he came out of heat not having mated or died but instead after fighting jim and thinking him to be dead. so, i feel it is not out of the question to think this implies either he was so shocked by killing kirk, the person he cared for most, that it snapped him out of his heat, OR his body registered that fight as sex. both equally gay options.

additionally, we already know jim is basically the most important person is spock's life, but this episode sorta puts it into perspective. spock says this whole quote about how "having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting." after he thinks he's killed jim, spock wants jim way more than he wants t'pring. which already in of itself shows how much he likes jim. but what more? when he finds out jim is alive, he's ecstatic. he no longer wants jim. he has him. and as we can tell by this being the happiest we've seen spock, it is a very pleasing thing to him. that is the most romantic part of this episode.

[muirmarie]

once again something that might be incredibly boring to people (INCREDIBLY likely) or maaaaaybe some vaguely interesting writing stuff, idk I really, really can't tell lmao (sorry sorry please feel to fully and absolutely ignore this)

anyway i was going through various fic notes, and I found the alternate (unfinished) feelings-reveal to the touch-starved mcspirk fic - pull you in and hold you tight (love you through the heart of night) - that I'd fully forgotten about aha

What I ended up with was very close to my original plan, but I was worried it was too similar to one of my other fics (I don't know why I worried lollll, all my fics are similar to my other fics, I very much have a tiny lane that I stay in lmao), and this was the other (unfinished) option I was playing with. It didn't click for me, though - given the build-up I'd written, with McCoy repeatedly losing ground to their we-care-about-you-buddy advance, this imo shifted the dynamic too much, and I just couldn't get it to feel right, so I scrapped it and went back to my original plan, with Kirk pushing the issue, instead. Importantly, this one is an externalized fight, as well (I DO love a fight), and I fully removed that element from the fic.

In the actual story, McCoy gets to process and debate internally, and it's all under the surface, with Spock (and Kirk, although it's Spock POV) watching it happen through that meldspace! And tbh I think that worked a lot better, having it be all internal - as much as I do love a good fight, I think it would've lessened the build I'd been working towards by externalizing it. Plus, it was fun to write how him pulling away looked to Spock and Kirk in that meldspace - mind melds are just So Neat, and I really love how much room they give to explore!

but anyway, if you're curious, this is what i decided Wasn't going to work!

this picks up when they're in the surface level meld, when Kirk is trying to sell McCoy on weekly cuddling sessions (lol), except in this version, McCoy (still) thinks they can tell how he feels, but he decides to shut Kirk down instead of retreating.

“Come on, Jim, you don't need to lie to me, it's fine. But you see how weekly cuddling sessions could be a little much for me, right? Let alone for poor Spock, who I am very sure does not need to hear whatever he's gotta be picking up on right now.” [Jim response: he's confused] “Jim. You always know when someone's interested in you. You've clocked who was going to hit on you within two minutes of walking into one of those hideous diplomatic parties. You always know.” “You won't even hug me of your own volition and I'm supposed to know that you're interested in me? Bones, anytime I try to flirt with you, you shut me down!” “You don't—you don't flirt with me!” McCoy snaps. “You—you joke around, and pretend to, which I assume is your way of saying that you don't mind that I—” “I've told you how good you look without a shirt on three times tonight!” Kirk yells. “That's just how you are!” McCoy yells back. “You really think I'd pretend to flirt with you if I knew you—” “You were letting me down easy! You were—“ McCoy abruptly breaks off, his expression faltering. “I'm sorry, you really didn't know? So I—I just told you?” “Doctor,” Spock says, finally cutting in, “your surface level thoughts have....not implied that you were interested in me in that manner.” “That's it,” McCoy says, struggling against their arms in an admittedly undignified manner, “that's it, let go of me, I need to go take that shuttle back to the planet and hide out there for at least another month, or maybe go walk out of an airlock, so just—” Spock tightens his grip, and he can feel Kirk doing the same. “Give us a minute to play catch up, will you?” Kirk says, scowling. “I've given you all the minutes I intend to,” McCoy says. “I knew I shouldn't have let you—I told you I needed to get my head on straight, I shouldn't—I never would have said—” “That was not a rejection, Leonard,” Spock says.

[illegalpaladin]

HI KELLY i'm usually not very good at coming up with stuff/prompts soooo uh lemme think (yes this is live writing)

what about hmm kirk trying to surprise spones for valentine's day (or sth), and it going wrong because of mission stuff (?) and kirk sulking the whole mission long like "come on gentlemen let's wrap this up asap" and spones being confused cause that's not like him. and then the surprise goes wrong anyway and kirk is sad, spones console him and they end up cuddling?? or sth IDK i'm not good at this ok love you bye <3

Cam!! I had a very silly one planned for this where Sulu got really into ice sculpting, and so for their anniversary Jim had him make ice sculptures of all their heads. But I decided that was TOO silly, so here's something different instead. (Love you and thank you for the prompt <3)

This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go.

It’s Valentine’s Day. It’s supposed to be romantic. 

So why is Jim trudging through the mud?

“Could we try to hurry things along, gentlemen?” He shifts his weight, and mud sloshes into his boots. 

Spock looks up from his tricorder. “Captain, you are well aware that this sort of thing cannot be rushed. My readings must be accurate.”

“What’s with you, Jim?” McCoy has found the one dry patch of land, and he’s sitting cross-legged and dumping mud and grime out of his own boots. “You’re not usually one to rush a mission like this.” 

Jim turns to scan their surroundings: mud, little hills of land, dense foliage. He turns back to McCoy. “This was just not how I planned on spending my Valentine’s Day.” 

Nothing had gone to plan, really. Jim had been planning a surprise picnic for the three of them in a meadow, but a transporter malfunction had landed them in the mud instead. 

And then, of course, Spock had said something about this swamp being a scientific anomaly, and he’d insisted on beaming down equipment to take readings on the area.

At least their sandwiches were still safely on board. 

Spock’s head tilts and he raises an eyebrow. “Valentine’s Day?”

“What, emotionless Vulcans don’t celebrate a day of love?” McCoy scowls at the sludge coating his hands and tries to wipe them off on the grass. 

Spock frowns and turns, and Jim can see him piecing everything together. “Jim, did you have plans to celebrate this holiday with us?”

“I–” Jim pauses with his lips parted, and then presses them together. He sighs. “Yes, Spock. I had intended for us to be in a meadow, not a swamp. And my intention was for us to have a picnic instead of taking readings.” 

Spock blinks. His head cocks in the opposite direction, and then he lowers his tricorder back to his side. “I believe at least one of those issues can be remedied.” 

Jim straightens. He pulls his communicator out and flips it open. “Kirk to Enterprise.”

Scotty’s voice cuts through. “Aye, Captain.” 

“Scotty, send down that picnic basket I packed, will you? There’s been a change in plans.” 

“Understood. Sending down.” 

The whirr of the transporter fills the air, and a wicker basket begins to materialize–

–right on top of the mud. 

It materializes, and the weight immediately drops it into the sludge. Jim dives for it, but it’s too late. Their sandwiches are toast. 

Jim buries his face in his hands. 

McCoy sighs. “Jim. C’mere.” 

Jim raises his eyes to see McCoy on his little island, his arms outstretched. Obediently, Jim drags himself through the mud to go sit beside him. McCoy wraps an arm around his waist and leans his head against his shoulder. 

“We don’t need a picnic to spend time together,” McCoy mumbles. Then, more loudly, “Spock, get over here.”

Spock steps through the mud. As he reaches land, he pulls his boots out. They make a distinct popping sound as they come free of the mud. Wordlessly, he settles himself beside Jim, with their hands resting on top of each other. 

“You can go take your readings, Spock,” Jim mutters. Even as he says it, his head falls on Spock’s shoulder.

“The readings can wait, Jim.” Spock’s voice is quiet and gentle. “The swamp will not be going anywhere.” 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Jim,” McCoy hums. “Glad we get to spend it with you.” 

“Me, too, Bones,” Jim smiles. “Me, too.”

[gaykarstaagforever]

I'm not going to poke fun at TOS "Miri" too much, because this is ironically one of the good TOS episodes. But...still...

Them finding an alternate-future clone of Earth randomly is pretty stupid. But that sort of stupid also gave us the episodes "What if a Nazi planet?" and "What if a Roman planet?", so, fine. (No, not the "What if a Mob planet?" or "What if a Native American planet?" Those were a result of slightly less goofy things.) Plus this was 1966. We hadn't even been to the moon yet, and I think they had only figured out what a galaxy was and that we were in one like a generation before this. No, I don't know how you fit this "there are just other Earths" into the modern canon. But I also don't know how you fit Picard and Discovery into the modern canon, and you absolutely SHOULDN'T, so it doesn't matter.

This planet was specifically at the level of Earth in the 1960s 300 years ago, when the Apocalypse happened. Which explains why it looks like a cowboy TV show set, littered with ruined cars from the 30s and 40s.

They go into a random building that looks like a store, inside it looks like a school, and one room is filled with racks of random medical equipment and high school science lab tools. And this just so happens to be the advanced science lab where these people genetically-engineered the anti-aging viruses that destroyed the world, because they also left mounds of folders filled with hand-written notes explaining all this. This is also the same building where the slowly-aging gang of children is holed up...like two rooms over. I realize this show had a budget. But like, you guys couldn't film the picture of a random warehouse exterior, and then shoot something in Roddenberry's office? That would have taken 10 minutes.

I like how the kids are 300 years old. That explains them being a little smarter than you'd expect, and the unique culture they have developed. ...Except they don't do much with any of this. Which is weird. Usually these Lord of the Flies-type stories make the kids into incoherent tribals, and that always happens after like 6 years of them being isolated. This story worked in a justification for some whole Thunderdome thing, but then they just say a couple odd slang words. We just can't win.

All the performances are good here, though Kim Darby is obviously not 12 or whatever. She was 19, which is young, sure. But the virus is supposed to trigger shortly after puberty, and this woman looks like a lady who had a baby shortly after this, which she totally did. Kirk playfully flirting with her to be nice only works if she's clearly a child. As it is, he's a 35 year old man being condescending to an college-aged woman. It doesn't land quite right.

Spock being unaffected by the rage zombie virus but clearly getting more and more irritated with the infected Bones and Kirk throwing tantrums is fun.

...Why would you EVER leave your communicators lying in a room while you run around to check out scary noises? That has to be a violation of basic Starfleet protocol.

They take at least one security guy down with them, station him in a hallway, then he doesn't show up again until the end of the episode. Is he infected like Kirk and McCoy and Rand? Why wasn't he guarding the room to stop the communicator theft? Why didn't he come with Kirk and Miri to confront the kids? Rand came down with them, for zero good reason, and was in the science lab the whole time. Why did they bring security, and then not have him secure anything?

McCoy got real lucky that that slapdash antidote he invented with the help of a blinky light computer that had zero input interface, that he tested on himself, didn't murder him. Why not test it on one of the crew that ISN'T the only doctor? Like, I don't know, maybe the yeoman who has zero things to do here, besides get upset about how she is getting ugly with zombie rage sores in front of the captain? Or the security guy who very specifically is not providing security of any kind? Or Kirk, who is just yelling and absolutely could pass out and Spock could handle whatever it is he was going to do?

...Why did these people make an anti-aging virus, and only test it on prepubescent children? Because obviously, it absolutely murders adults real fast and badly, so they clearly didn't test it on any. What is the point of even making something that keeps people 12 for centuries? Or did it somehow mutate later into the zombie virus? I don't know if 60s people knew about how viruses work, so I don't know what the intention was, here.

The last scene back on the Enterprise bridge has a strange ambient background sound going on that really bothered me. I don't know what that was.

Also Kirk says he called "Space Central" (?) and told them to send adults to take care of the kids on the planet. Who, until then, he just left down there, apparently infected with a zombie rage virus and running out of food. But Rand looks hot again so I guess it all worked out.

...Why did they even go down there in the first place? I know it looked like Earth. But you guys knew it certainly wasn't. There was a 50% chance this was going to go badly, Kirk. Do a scan or something first. Come on, dude.

[thegeminisage]

ok, now that i've watched all of tos (none of the movies yet...) i am going to do the top ten worst and best episodes, according to Me. they are as follows:

WORST EPISODES

10. the savage curtain - idk who thought putting abe lincoln in a cage match with the vulcan version of ghandi against like, ghengis khan and space hitler would be a good idea. but it wasn't. i did like seeing the vulcan father of logic though like "im gonna go sacrifice myself for peace" ok king

9. i, mudd - all of the mudd episodes are bad. he's not charming at all whatsoever. however, this one is better than the other one because uhura gets to pretend to sell out kirk and they're SOOO cute about it. her little giggle when he PICKS HER UP BY HER SHOULDERS and tells her how proud he is. PLEEEEASE

8. charlie x - the entire premise of this episode is that the bad guy is just autistic. and then they make him live on a planet without people because he can't adjust to normal life ???

7. shore leave - obvious racism of this episode aside, the faux-irish jig that played while kirk was being menaced by his extremely unfunny old bully nearly drove me over the edge. we DO love a good mccoy death fakeout tho

6. a piece of the action - if i had any interest in gangster films before this it's all gone now. that being said. i loved when kirk drove the little car. he was so bad at it. he was so happy.

5. mudd's women - like he's literally just selling women?? and the plot twist is that secretly they're ugly?????

4. who mourns for adonias - this is just "what if ALIENS build the pyramids bro" except for the 1960s. nail in the coffin for this one was kirk proudly declaring they didn't needs gods - because they already had the One God, thank you very much!

3. the paradise syndrome - WHY WOULD YOU HAVE NATIVE AMERICANS MISTAKE KIRK FOR GOD. WHY. like i know why but Why. i think the very worst part of this episode was that it had an amnesia plot that would have FUCKED if you had simply removed the people. if there hadn't been people in this it would've been in my top 10 episodes. i think this broke me.

2. the omega glory - this is the same as the last episode except there's no amnesia, and also the "native americans" are white cosplayers who worship the american flag and mistake kirk for god because he can recite the pledge of allegiance yes really. if i had a nickel for every time this happened i'd only have two nickels etc etc at least kirk didn't knock anybody up in this one ig

1. patterns of force - why would you make your two jewish leads wear swastikas and then literally be whipped by nazis. i know he's such a bad person but not even william shatner deserves that. number one worst episode everyone says it's omega glory but it's this one

BEST EPISODES

10. plato's stepchildren - this episode is hard to rank because like it's both good and bad. the torture scenes were genuinely upsetting, especially the ones at the end w/ spock & nurse chapel, because they weren't just violence being inflicted on tied up guys, but they were SUPPOSED to be upsetting, like it was literally the point. and also this episode bears the distinction of THEEE kirk & uhura kiss. literally historic.

9. the trouble with tribbles - i feel like everyone's heard of this but it really is as good as everyone says. sometimes 1960s humor doesn't translate to 2020s humor but it was genuinely hysterical start to finish. also, the distinct trilling sound was so imprinted in my brain i recognized it in the 2009 movie where i had never registered it before.

8. the naked time - aside from the KING SHIT george takei pulled with the fencing this episode also contains the "i am in control of my emotions [sobbing]" moment and kirk & spock LITERALLY having a slapfight. this episode has everything. an absolute masterpiece

7. the empath - i feel like this paired with "the world is hollow and i have touched the sky" really made me a Bones Understander. i feel a little bad about that bc everyone says the characterizations in s3, or actually that the season as a whole, is kinda shaky? but i watched without knowing that and i feel like i Get It now. also, this was the only score i went and relistened to on spotify

6. tholian web - the spock & mccoy episode ever. there's so many things to say about this from the death fakeout to kirk's little space suit but what TRULY got me was the instant and totally nonverbal agreement to lie straight to kirk's face to both preserve personal dignity and troll the shit out of him (while chekov and sulu are like also silently laughing as they listen in no less). what this episode made me realize was that it's a good thing they argue all the time and make kirk play referee because if they were on the same side kirk wouldn't stand a chance. like he'd be finished.

5. the city on the edge of forever - ok, so, this episode made me feel like i was having a mental break. the time travel. spock's little hat. when he watches kirk kiss edith and then goes back into their room to pretend he didn't see anything. mccoy and kirk basically hugging at the end when edith bites it.

4. requiem for methuselah - the first time i watched this i was kinda like :/ because how does kirk fall in love with a woman in FOUR HOURS? that aside the ending scene blew my tits clean off. i paced around my house for like 30 minutes going "what the FUCK was that" because i couldn't simply lie down and sleep after seeing it. rewatching the episode with uh. new context made me like it a little better. but even if it had been garbage the last scene shook me so thoroughly it would still need to be on this list. i'm getting wound up just thinking about it. number one most shocking tos moment.

3. the dagger of the mind - look, i understand that this episode was technically just run-of-the-mill stuff as far as everybody else is concerned but they put james t kirk in a little brainwashing machine. and the machine was shaped like a chair. and it gives people amnesia sometimes. i don't know how i'm expected to behave normally

2. this side of paradise - this is the episode where a flower jizzes on spock and gives him feelings. and look: it's really funny, and there's a lot to love about it. but the ending where kirk hurls verbal abuse at spock for a solid 92 seconds WITHOUT STOPPING followed by: spock beating the shit out of him until he gets his logic back. i have rewatched this perhaps 1,000 times at minimum. what the fuck were they doing

1. conscience of the king - this episode got me into this mess. i don't think i can elaborate further without significant self-incrimination. let's just say what happened was i thought "oh i'll just watch this one tos episode for context for the fanfiction" and one month later i'm writing fic about [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT

ok, that's my list. i thought about doing honorable mentions for episodes that had scenes i liked even though the overall episode didn't make it into my top 10. but then i realized that would mean recapping basically the entire series and this post is already too long. i do have to give the pon farr episode a shoutout though because even though so much of it was offputting there was literally a titty window in kirk's shirt. like, it's the pon farr episode. ok NOW i'm done

[lonesomedreamer]

SNW Liveblog: “Among the Lotus Eaters”

In which they’re mean to Spock for no reason, but Spock helps save the day anyway.

In its own way, this is scene just as staged/cheesy as anything in TOS…it’s also giving NBC Hannibal (not a compliment from me).

Look: I just don’t care about the supposedly corrupt bureaucracy and chain of command in Starfleet. When I watch Trek, I want to escape into a post-scarcity utopian society, and nuTrek can pry that out of my cold, dead hands!!!

Other things I don’t care about: Pike’s on-again, off-again relationship with Batel. Sorry. This show already has too many characters vying for screentime with too few episodes to develop them to be wasting time on this.

Love that Pike makes sure to put out the candles before he leaves…meanwhile his quarters has a huge, open fireplace that burns 24/7.

Not that everything they do on the Enterprise isn’t science-related, but… “science specialist”? Do you guys even WATCH the show??? Gold is for the command division, red is for operations/engineering, and BLUE IS FOR SCIENCE! At least pretend to give a shit about your show’s own universe. (Oh…wait…)

“Most of the time I fly the ship, which is cool, but can get boring.” Speaking for all the kids (and adults!) who have fantasized about flying the Enterprise for the last 55 years: kindly fuck off.

“Can’t you just say ‘two moons’?” / “We get it, Spock.” Spock is the science officer (and ALSO Vulcan). Get off his back!!! His SNW crewmates nitpick him worse than Bones ever did.

I don’t like Ortegas much—she’s still written like garbage, no fault of the actor—and her perpetual bitchiness towards Spock is NOT helping.

“Doctors love being tasked for a mission because of their combat skills.” Maybe you should’ve thought of that three episodes ago when you were LARPing Wolverine in slo-mo against the Klingons for like ten minutes, M’Benga…

This line might have been okay by itself—McCoy-esque, if you will—except they’ve been giving Spock shit for Doing His Damn Job for the entire episode so far.

I love Christine, and SNW!Christine has grown on me, but…she’s not even the Head Nurse on this show. Why is she running Sickbay solo? Am I supposed to believe that the Enterprise doesn’t staff more than a single doctor??

“As long as it stays isolated to Uhura” Since they don’t know the cause and therefore whether the condition is infectious, shouldn’t they at least isolate Uhura? (They experienced a similar outbreak just a few episodes ago!!!)

Speaking of Uhura, seems pretty shitty of the writers to have Uhura be the first one to lose her memory: TOS already did that. (If it’s an homage, it’s not a good one.)

I adore Ethan, but sometimes his line delivery is weirdly stilted.

:')

There’s literally no one else left on the Bridge apart from Spock and Ortegas? Okay…

“It’s not the Spock show!” but it should be.

Whatever’s affecting the rest of the crew should affect Spock differently and/or belatedly due to his different genetic code. Then again, the only thing these writers seem to know about Vulcans is that they talk about logic a lot.

Not the computer having a ghost-of-Mufasa moment with Ortegas… (“Remember who you are.”)

“I feel like I know how to do this. And I’m the only one who can.” * Put a pin in this.

“Abso-friggin’-lutely.” Awful.

I didn’t think you can block a phaser blast with like...a physical shield?? Especially one (presumably) set to kill???

Kirk was involved in a lot of fights, but watching the captain of the Enterprise repeatedly kick/pistol-whip a guy who’s already laying prone on the ground is…surreal and horrible.

Trek’s always been two parts morality play, one part scifi, but can I get the scientific part of the reveal again? Something about radiation from an asteroid?? It sounds kind of interesting—but they’re just gonna gloss over it, aren’t they??

Also, the Enterprise is designed to protect its crew against all kinds of radiation—we know that because it was built to fly in SPACE, which is radioactive as fuck. So what’s special about these asteroids (and if the planet’s atmosphere is too thick to be penetrated by the Enterprise’s scanners, why can’t it protect the planet from the radiation coming off the asteroids that surround it)??

Please stop showing Pike punching this guy over and over again. It’s actually upsetting, I can’t see the point, if there is one.

Pike: “[Rigel VII] shows us who we really are…” Pike 30 seconds earlier: kicking and punching an unarmed man who’s sprawled out, bleeding, on the floor Pike: “The lives of my crew mean everything to me.”

sure-jan.gif

Look…TOS could be really unsubtle and on-the-nose about its messaging. It still did it with so much more grace and flair than THIS. “He was right. Not having a past…it can be nice for a while.” “I know what you mean. But maybe some memories are worth the pain of others.” / “The story of your life, the details…they matter!” Wow, what do you guys think is this episode trying to say?!?

*“No one but you could pull this off.” In “Mirror Mirror,” a visibly nervous Uhura hesitates after Kirk issues his orders; he then reassures her by earnestly saying “You’re the only one who can do it.” It’s meaningful because it’s true—Uhura is the only one both with the necessary skills and whom Kirk can trust in the mirror universe. Here, it’s just Pike stroking the ego of an officer who’s already an arrogant smartass…plus, while Ortegas might be the best pilot on board, the episode repeatedly makes it clear that she is NOT the only one qualified to “fly the ship.”

“I don’t blame Spock. He’s still got a lot to learn.” Why the fuck would anyone blame Spock for anything that went down here?!! The man was trying to analyze the asteroids—the very same ones that robbed everyone of their memories—at the beginning of the episode when everyone was rolling their eyes and saying “not now, Spock,” and look where it fucking got them!

And in the very next line, we learn that Spock came up with the solution that SAVED THE SHIP/CREW.

“It feels logical to me.” This is the kind of shit y’all should be angry about re: Spock, not him smooching Christine. It FEELS logical. Retch.

I know I sound really critical here, but I actually found this one a lot easier to watch (almost) straight-through than some of the previous episodes, i.e., without having to stop and scream in frustration. It was less mundane and plodding than the previous one (and left SNW!Kirk behind, thank God). That said, I did find myself tempted to fast-forward through some of the scenes on Rigel VII, and I did skip around during the Pike/Batel scenes. I also saw a lot of comments that this episode is very TOS...I guess so? Imo the resemblance is surface-level only, though.

The Good: Hey, they're on a STRANGE NEW-(to-the-viewer) WORLD! Imagine that! — La'an's costume and the way she's styled for the away mission. — Boring subplot aside, Batel also looks really nice. — The vibe, planetside, is trying to be like TOS. Gold star for effort? — A few funny lines. — Ethan gets a lot of flattering shots in this episode. :3

The Bad: A lot of time wasted between Ortegas' repeated “I fly the ship” mantra (both early and later on) and the Pike/Batel scenes that bookend the episode. — Almost everyone being critical of what Spock says and how he says it; it borders on unprofessional and mean and is ESPECIALLY bad since Spock then uses science to restore their memories (off-screen, of course). — Making Uhura the first one to get amnesia. — Failing to develop Ortegas at all in what I assume is supposed to be an “Ortegas episode.” — Christine's hair. My poor girl! — Spock forgets how to READ?!?? (I missed this while I was watching because it's just Too Stupid for me to believe they actually went there.) — Gratuitous violence from Pike that seemed to serve no thematic or symbolic purpose.

There better be Spockstine in the next one, because without it, Ethan’s face is still worth it…barely, though.

[hekate1308]

Fictober #29, How Did This Happen?

Prompt: How did this happen?

Fandom: Star Trek TOS

Pairing: Gen

She was a beautiful lady, alright. There was a reason she was the flagship of the Federation, destined to go where no man had gone before; and she would go far, he knew that – well, even farer than she had before. Granted, he didn’t know much about this Captain Kirk as of yet, just that he had seemed to be a boy wonder at the academy, and those might work out for the best or end up useless; but as long as he had something to tinker with and an engine to take care of, he would be alright.

After all, he had been through many a storm already with different ships, how difficult could it be?

A few emergencies later, he had to admit he had not reroll considered what it would mean to have to make things up on the fly when everything went wrong, but still, he managed. After all, that was what he was here for. He was not just tinkering away on old cars in Edinburgh, as his grandfather had done; he was working on a spaceship.

Still, it was not a welcome surprise when they suddenly found themselves dead in the water – dead in space, he supposed he should call it.

The life support still worked, but other than that, nothing. Which in some way was good news because at least he had time to figure out what was going on without them suffocating in the meantime.

Still, he knew what he had to do in such a moment as this, so he made his way unto the bridge.

”Scotty, how did this happen?” were the first words out of the captain’s mouth and despite everything, he had to suppress a smiled. The instructors in the academy had always told him he should stay professional because no captain worth a damn would call him by a nickname, but Captain Kirk had proven them wrong right from the start.

“I don’t know sir, but I am working on it.”

He nodded. “Spock?”

Mr. Spock, as could be expected for any good scienced officer, had a few theories, but nothing concrete as yet, whereas the good doctor was slightly worried about the crew, as he always was, but rather happy that sickbay was still fully operational, so to speak.

Kirk nodded at him and he returned to the engine room to figure out what was going on.

It didn’t take long to learn that actually, everything should have been working perfectly. There really was no reason for it not to, apart from the fact that they were in space and everything was possible, there. He quickly did the math. Wall in all, things were not too bad – they still had a little over 84-hours until they would all end up dead; they’d had to dela with much less.

What he hadn’t counted on was how it would feel too slowly watch all their theories crumble to dust while absolutely nothing changed. It was just as well thy were blessed with such a Captain as Jim kirk and such a first officer as Mr. Spock, because these two at least kept a cool head. And Doctor McCoy for all that he could start complaining as soon as he woke up in the morning, also knew what to do in such moments as this.

Still, they had to find something, and soon.

It was young Chekov who gave him the idea. “You know, sir, in Russia, we used to do something called schemitsa. Bear hunting. It was… a trap. When a bear tried to get through, it would get stuck and either starve or be killed when the hunters returned.”

He nodded more out of politeness but then realized that this might actually make sense. Trapping her in this place, waiting for whoever had laid the trap to come back…

“Sir” he hit the intercom, ”I’ll need more scans of the area immediately surrounding the Enterprise. I think there might be something there.”

“Consider it done, Mr. Scott” the Captains’ voice replied.

A few minutes later, he had the scans. Yes – just a small but significant higher concentration of epsilon rays than should have been there. It might not have been much, but it was what he could get, and he would work with it.

“Sir!” he all but shouted through the intercom again. “I Think I’ve got it!”

It was a little bit more complicated than just dismantling the set of rays that had been laid out like a bear trap in Chekov’s story, but still, three hours later they were free, and he was rather sure it would make an interesting report for the captain to send in.

When he entered the Bridge, the captain said, “Well done, Mr. Scott.”

“Aye, thank you, Captain. All in a day’s work.”

[spaceleveln]

And, now that I have finally managed to get tumblr to accept a picture, I think I am stopping here for Subcommander "Jolly" Gosseij. I think she's good enough.

Jolly is, I suspect, telling me that the FSS Polity is a bit of an inbetweener ship for Space N's Federation. Somewhere between the Enterprise and the Cerritos. That it is meant to be a deep space exploration vessel carrying out important missions but that it also might be a way to offload some of the less desirable Starfleet officers somewhere far, far away.

I suppose Jolly could just be accompanying Captain Tsavriel. I am definitely thinking of them being a little together. At least occasionally. Very good friends with lots of benefits sort of thing.

But my first idea (which I'll probably stick with because I like it) is that Jolly was supposed to be promoted to be the new Captain of Captain Tsavriel's previous ship, where Jolly was chief helm officer under Captain Tsavriel for the last however many years. But between Captain Tsavriel leaving for R&R after her last mission and before taking command of the Polity as her new mission, Jolly got in trouble and got busted down in rank instead. And now she's getting shunted back to Tsavriel's command to keep her under the thumb of someone experienced with keeping her in line. And nothing too scandalous seems to happen when they're sleeping together. Especially compared to when Jolly isn't under the command of someone who understands her.

I picture Jolly as a bit of a McCoy to Tsavriel's Spock. The over-emotional, passionately compassionate one. Come on, Lana, let's ride to the rescue! Damn regulations and logic, we have to do something!!

I also tweaked her into a client species, since I apparently totally messed up my reading of the Aandrisks. I thought they were smaller than humans. And I like the idea of Jolly as this tiny, unstoppable bundle of energy and Federation-can-do spirit. So, she's a Aalphrisk ab-Aandrisk instead. Something close enough for the Aandrisks to uplift into a sapient species much like themselves. Just a little shorter and a little wilder.

I'm also definitely thinking of Jolly as filling the Kirk/Riker Lothario role of the crew compliment. That she just picks up a new lover every port / adventure / opportunity. Sure, anyone can pick somebody up for the sake of the story but Jolly is the default. And if she's not involved with the adventure, maybe just have snippets of Jolly seducing someone in the background like the Nun running around smoking and causing a ruckus in Dogma. Have a shot of her in a different quarters every time she's summoned to the bridge. That sort of thing.

[girl-next-door-writes]

For @perpetual-exhaustion21. It's been a hot minute since I wrote anything for my lovely Star Trek boys but I am on the look out for plot bunnies.

This was not how it was meant to be. He wasn't even supposed to be on this stupid mission in the first place, but then you'd offered and he'd be damned if anything happened to you on his watch. Not that he would ever admit to ANYONE that was the reason he was here. Especially when he knew the looks he would receive from Kirk, the teasing, the pushing to tell you how he feels only to be rejected and have to deal with the humiliation. Nope. Never going to happen. He had decided to keep a safe distance, only stepping in when he felt the overwhelming need to keep you safe.

Of course, right now you were safely tucked away fixing the battered ship while he was standing here, with Spock, about to die. They were surrounded and unarmed, things were not looking good at all. He wondered if there was anything the Vulcan regretted, anything left unsaid or undone. McCoy had a list as long as his arm, and at the top was knowing he would never get to hold you.

Of course, he longed to do more than just hold you, but holding you had always seemed somehow attainable, barely crossing any lines. He had been working up to it, waiting for his moment when he could pull you into his arms. Some rocks shifted along the side of the ravine, indicating their assailants were getting closer.

"Well, at least I won't die alone." He half joked, feeling the reassuring pressure of Spock leaning against his back for a moment, and then it was gone. Spinning around, he saw that Spock had vanished! "Well that's just-"

His words were cut off as he found himself beamed aboard the broken ship and before he could gather his thoughts you had launched yourself at him, holding him so tight he wasn't entirely sure if it was restricting his breathing. He was aware of you mumbling something against his chest, fear and panic in your tone. Leonard frowned and wrapped his arms around you, nuzzling your hair as he whispered, "It's okay, darlin'. I'm okay. We're gonna be okay."

He felt your grip on his shirt loosen a little, but you didn't pull away. Maybe it was the near death situation, maybe it was wishful thinking, but Leonard couldn't help hope he had a shot at a little more than just holding you. Perhaps he would see if you wanted to get a drink after all this was over. One thing he knew for damned sure was that he didn't want to be staring down death and regretting not taking his shot with you.

[bcnes-archived]

@finalfronticr sent 👤🔀👤for a bodyswap thread

Objectively speaking, waking up in Jim's quarters rather than his own is not immediate cause for concern. They were roommates in the Academy, for god's sake, so even on the Enterprise it's never been all that remarkable if Leonard's too drunk to drag his ass back to his own quarters or Jim's just too lazy to get off McCoy's couch. Slightly strange that Kirk himself isn't there - and that he's got absolutely zero memory of having dropped by the previous night to begin with - but even then it only means he'd bet anything on there being another goddamn crisis ( when isn't there! ) that's demanded his attention on the bridge.

Bastard should've at least kicked him awake if that's the case. "Computer, current location of Captain Kirk." McCoy runs his hands down his face and begins a half-assed search for his boots, giving the computer a second to ping Jim's location on the ship.

It responds. Captain James Kirk is currently located in his quarters.

He pauses. Furrows his brow. Gives the room a cursory scan over, which includes peeking under the desk just in case Jim's got it in his head to be funny. But there's only so many places a full-grown man could hide and Kirk is in none of them. "The hell he is," McCoy murmurs back scathingly. Technology. What's it good for, anyway.

He does perform a sweep of the bathroom once he realizes that door's open, too, but even that's empty - and then, out of the corner of his eye, catches the reflection in the mirror.

Embarrassingly, his first thought is that Kirk's gotten trapped in the mirror somehow because frankly that wouldn't even make the top ten in terms of the weirdest shit he's seen on this godforsaken ship. But he raises a hand to investigate and immediately makes the connection that it's a reflection, moving in sync with him, behaving just as any other reflection would, just... Kirk. It's Kirk. He's Kirk. Or at least piloting his body around, he's not going to make haphazard guesses on the specifics of this already-bizarre situation, though his current physique matches the Captain's to a T. He entertains the brief thought of running over to Spock, who will at least be obnoxiously calm about the whole mess, but then thinks better of it because what good will that do if they don't know where the real Kirk is, anyway? They've got half a problem on their hands. But McCoy's got one guess, and he supposes if he's wrong he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it, but for now... well, it's better than nothing. Marginally better. A very slight margin.

"Jim!" He mentally thanks whoever had the idea to stick all the senior officers' quarters in one hallway - it keeps him from having to fend off looks from assorted crewmen who would otherwise be wondering why the hell the captain is storming through the ship with bedhead and his boots off. McCoy makes a beeline straight for his own quarters, and it doesn't really occur to him in that moment that he obviously knows the code to it; instead he just pounds on the door. "You in there? I swear to god I am not in the mood to go on a wild goose chase for you right now!"

[muirmarie]

👀👀 mcspirk jealousy 👀👀

So there's a prompt for mcspirk month (yes that was march, idc <3 lol) that was "Jealous Bones," and I don't always love jealousy storylines, so I was trying to think how I'd want to do it. And I was thinking that the funniest way that I'd want to write it, is established spirk, where McCoy isn't jealous of Kirk and Spock being together, BUT he acts like a territorial, jealous boyfriend anytime anyone else flirts with one of them?

He's not pining. He's actually out here flirting with other people all the time! Which makes it even weirder for other people, tbh. He's out here flirting with the beautiful princess, and then her brother the prince flirts with Spock, and McCoy shuts it down SO hard and is SO territorial, and then turns back to the princess and is like, sorry, Spock's taken by my bestie, anyway let's go back to flirting! Like this is normal human behavior <3

Now, importantly: Spock and Kirk are such codependent nightmares that they also don't see anything wrong with this. They're just like, yeah, Bones get super jealous if anyone flirts with us, and other people are like oh, I didn't realize you were dating Dr. McCoy!, and Spock and Kirk are like, we're not <3, and the other people just stare at them, flummoxed.

It starts to come to a head when McCoy is noticeably not jealous at one point, either because he's too involved in his own flirting, or something else, and it bothers Kirk and Spock so much that they're like????? Why don't you care about us anymore????????

there's also a McCoy/Uhura/Scotty friends with benefits subplot (unless I cut it, I'm not sure if it's steering the story too far another way), where they have to be like, "Leonard, we're actively sleeping with you, and you don't act jealous of us at ALL, can you try to put the pieces together, maybe?"

______________

“The Andorian Commander seemed to take a shine to Spock,” Kirk says. There's something in his voice that McCoy can't place, but to be fair, he's a little too distracted to focus on it right now.

“He does have that effect on people,” McCoy says. “At least, people who've had recent brain damage.”

“Ha,” Kirk says. “Thought I was going to have to get a crowbar to pry him off.”

“He was...persistent,” Spock allows, his gaze weirdly—weirdly heavy on McCoy's face.

“I guess you're just too charming for your own good,” McCoy says. He's trying for light, but the smile doesn't seem to want to lay flat on his face.

“You disappeared for a while there,” Kirk says, the change of subject abrupt.

“It's a party, I've been reliably told one is supposed to mingle,” McCoy says. He frowns a little, looking between the pair of them. “Everything okay?”

“That's what I'm trying to ask you!”

[iamthemain-character]

Hey, I just saw you were taking requests. I was wondering if you could write something about Leonard mccoy being in love with gn!reader who is medical scientist but also an Orion afab person and when they get together, Spock and Kirk are a little afraid that they could be using their advantages (the pheromones female Orions have) over him. Thank you very much 💙

hello! this was an interesting idea, thanks for requesting! i hope you like it :)

The Science Of Love

leonard “bones” mccoy x orion! reader

gender neutral pronouns, afab

TW: just spock and kirk being kinda overprotective which leads to them making assumptions about reader, it has a happy ending tho

requested by @jeromevaleska-zemo-s-bitch

so i tried to do some more in depth research on pheromones and the orion species, but considering this is set in a fictional futuristic space age i kinda made some assumptions/ made things up. i hope it all is okay!

Star Trek Masterlist

Dr. McCoy and Y/n were not a very public couple; PDA was almost nonexistent, and they it would be best to keep their romance a secret since they did work together, at least for a while. Y/n was head medical scientist on the starship Enterprise, and with Leonard McCoy being both head doctor and best friend to the captain, a low key relationship seemed best.

As time went on, however, Bones started to feel guilty lying to his friends about his free-time activities. While his schedule used to be wide open, he now spent much of his free time with the person he loved, but for secrecy’s sake he couldn’t tell them that. Bones wasn’t really a good liar to start with, so most conversations found himself tripping over his words and sticking his foot in his mouth.

Even Y/n began to notice it, so they decided to confront Leonard about it.

“Leo?”

“Yes my dear?”

“I think it’s time you tell your friends about us.”

Bones looked up from the tablet his was reading and looked at his SO. “Are you sure?”

“I am. I think we’ve proven we can keep work at work, and things are still going well for us. And besides, your lies aren’t very convincing, so it’s better you tell them before they figure it out.”

———————————————————————

All three men were sat down at the ships bar in the recreational room; Spock, Leonard McCoy, and Jim Kirk. Their conversation topics were fairly light, joking with each other and laughing lots. At a lull, however, Bones decided it was time to break the news.

“Well boys, I gotta tell y’all something.”

Both men turned with raised eyebrows, curious to see what their friend was going to say.

“I’m seeing someone. Y/n, specifically. Don’t worry Jim, we keep it professional at work, but at the end of the day, we both like each other. I love them.” With that Bones gave a quick nod and tossed back his drink.

Spock blinked a few times as he tried to process what he was hearing, and Jim poured them both another drink.

“Leonard, you know that Jim and I hold you high regard, but are you sure? This all seems rather sudden.”

“I’ve never been more sure about anything Spock; I’m in love with Y/n, and I feel like the luckiest man in the universe that they put up with me. You both should meet them, see just how incredible they are.” McCoy’s communicator blinked, signifying that he had received a message. “Ah, speaking of, we are supposed to have dinner. I’ll see you guys later!”

Kirk and Spock watched as their friend walked away, a slight smile on his face. Neither had ever seen Bones this happy before or emotional. In fact, the only emotion they ever saw from him was grumpy, so everything about him was just very unusual.

“Jim?”

“Spock?”

“Is it just me or was the doctor….”

“Unusually cheery? Yeah, I noticed it too.”

Spock’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought, waiting for Jim to finish his drink before he spoke. “I cannot help but wonder, Y/n is an Orion, assigned female at birth. The Orion people are known to have strong pheromones which cause strong attraction in the opposite gender. I cannot help but wonder if the reason for his sudden change is do to the affect Y/n might have on him.”

Jim’s jaw dropped as the meaning of what Spock was saying hit him. “Are you saying that Y/n might be using their abilities to get Bones to love them?”

“Do not be hasty Captain; I am unsure of whether or not this is being done intentionally, but i would be a good explanation for everything.”

Slipping off his stool, Kirk rushed to the doors. Spock was quick to follow, on the heels of Jim as they navigated the ship. The pair came up upon Bone’s quarters, and Jim didn’t even take time to knock before he opened the door.

Inside, Bones and Y/n were sitting next to each other at the table, laughing over something that had been said. Both suddenly looked up at the intrusion, surprised to see their captain and commander rushing in.

“Jim, what the he-“

“You’re not in love with Y/n, they’re using their pheromones over you.”

Bones stood up from the table and came face to face with his friend. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, stop.”

“No Bones, listen to me. Spock told me, Orion have strong pheromones, and Y/n has those same ones that make you attracted to them, so it’s not real. You gotta stay away from them.”

“Spock, did you really say that?”

Spock looked very uncomfortable, awkwardly standing a little ways behind Jim. “I simply related my concerns to Jim that because Y/n is an afab Orion, their natural evolutionary features may have played a part in your attraction to them. McCoy, you must understand, you’ve been acting very uncharacteristically. You’ve been more jovial and dare I say, romantic. You can understand Jim’s and my concern.”

Quietly Y/n came up to stand beside Leonard. “I can understand your concern Captain, Commander, but I assure you; Orion pheromones have no affect whatsoever on the human species. It has been proven in many medical studies, including some I have participated in. If Leo has shown attraction to me, it is because I have tried to love him as he deserves. And I do, I love him. But I don’t want to be the reason you three argue; Leonard, I think we should take some time apart, slow down a bit.”

“No, Y/n-“

“It’s for the best okay? Thank you for dinner, but I have to go.” With tears glistening in Y/n’s eyes, they excused themself from the room.

When Bones turned to face his friends again, his expression had completely changed. “So you too decided that my relationship was a sham, and so you should come interrupt my personal evening to humiliate my SO and me? You didn’t even stop to think that maybe you could talk to me in private? You two are supposed to be my best friends, you’re supposed to be there for me! And yet when I’m finally happy you decide it’s not okay?! I think I deserve to be happy, I deserve to be romantic, it’s not a crime! AND IF I WANT TO LOVE Y/N, THEN I THINK I HAVE THAT RIGHT.”

“Bones, we just-“

“GET OUT! Get out of my home, leave me be, so I can try to fix the mess you both have made!”

Their cheeks burning with shame, Spock and Kirk quickly left the room. As they walked back to their quarters, neither said a word; both understood the consequences of their actions, and they felt horrible. But the damage had been done, and they had no way to fix it.

Things were tense for the week to come; Y/n spoke to none of them, instead electing to work any position that would prevent contact. Bones also was not speaking to Jim or Spock, giving them a freezing shoulder and only speaking in terse words when necessary. The whole ship felt the cold air between them, but despite the best efforts of mutual friends, nothing broke the ice. It was killing Kirk and Spock to watch everyone suffer from their mistakes, and so at the next ship stop they decided to hatch a plan to at least apologize.

Y/n was taken aback one morning as they walked into their office; every where to be seen there was flora from their home planet. The blossoms were vibrant hughes, and plants carefully cared for. Set in beautiful pottery, it was like stepping back home. What surprised Y/n even more, was the two men standing in the middle of it.

“What can I do for you Captain? Commander?”

Kirk nodded to Spock before starting to speak.

“We wanted to apologize, for everything that happened the other day. What I said was out of line, and incredibly rude of me. I shouldn’t have said any of it; you’ve never given us reason to doubt your integrity, and we should’ve been happy that you and Bones were happy.”

“Indeed, I share the Captain’s lament. I should not have made such bold assumptions, indeed, I know better than anyone that what we are does not define who we are. I am deeply and truly sorry Y/n.”

“We both are, from the bottom of our hearts. If there’s anything we can do to make it better, we want to do it.”

For a few seconds, Y/n’s face didn’t change; then, slowly a sly smile spread. “I think I have an idea.”

———————————————————————

“Alright I’m here! What’s the emergency? Who’s in danger?” Bones burst through the door of the recreation center, panic etched into his face. He had received a call that someone was in medical need, but now as he looked around, he only saw Kirk and Y/n.

Y/n was seated at a table towards the back, candlelight casting a soft glow on them. Jim was dressed up in a suit and had a linen thrown over his arm.

“Excuse me sir, are you here for your dinner reservation?”

“I-I don’t have a reservation?”

“Are you Leonard McCoy?”

“……Yes?”

“Then follow me please.”

Kirk led Leonard over to the table with Y/n, pulling out the chair across from them and gesturing for him to sit. Bones did as told, confused as could be. Then Spock came out in a matching suit to Kirk, but he instead held a tray with two silver dishes on it. These he placed in front of the two people dining while Kirk filled their glasses with some bubbly drink. After both men had finished, as a final touch, they pulled rose petals out of their pockets and dramatically threw them around. Y/n burst into giggles, while Leonard just watched in amazement.

As Kirk and Spock left, Leonard turned his attention back to Y/n; they looked absolutely gorgeous, and his heart swelled at the sight of their smile.

“Hey there Darlin.”

Finally Y/n couldn’t restrain themselves anymore, getting up, they threw their arms around Bones’ shoulders and pulled him close. He wrapped his arms around them too, and for a moment they just sat there and enjoyed being together again.

“What is happening?”

“Jim and Spock felt bad and wanted to apologize, so they helped set up this date for us.”

“Really? So that’s why they were in that funky getup.”

Y/n laughed and cupped Leonard’s face. “Yes, they said it was customary on earth. As are the rose petals.”

“I see, a nice touch to be sure.” Laughing, Leonard touched his forehead to Y/n’s. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“And I you.”

“Promise you’ll never leave, no matter how rude my friends are?”

Y/n smiled and placed a sweet kiss on Leonard’s lips. “Always and forever my love.”

[shutupanddance]

#3 with Bones

@lo14ry19 asked: “If you’re still taking requests…. Number 3 with AOS Bones?”

Okay y’all must REALLY love Bones because nothing has blown up as fast as my content on him! He is definitely my favorite Star Trek hottie tho so I’m not complaining. I hope you like this hun!! I decided to make a whole one shot because I couldn’t figure out how to do this in headcanons.

It was a simple mission. Get in, make friends, get out. But when the surface of the planet is a metaphorical minefield, it’s not that easy.

You were currently stepping gingerly across some volcanic rock, and gaining very little ground. To the north, water spouts were exploding into the air as ocean waves hit the rocks, and to the south, lava was spewing out of several places. You were *trying* to move east. At least, that’s the way Captain Kirk was walking. But the more he scratched his head and laughed nervously, the less confident you felt. Where was this civilization you were supposed to make contact with? There were no signs of it from what you could see.

Behind you, Spock and Bones were arguing, as is to be expected. You weren’t sure what had started it; you tend to ignore their fights automatically. Their words had about as much consequence to you as the bird-like creatures chattering in the distance, until they brought you into it.

“I bet she’d agree,” Leonard is saying, and you dread whatever you’re about to be dragged into.

“What?” You shout over your shoulder, trudging along.

“Can you settle something for us?”

You pivot in place, and they’re still arguing.

“That isn’t necessary,” Spock says, “I’m sure Y/N would be-“

You drop.

You’re not exactly sure what happened, or how it happened. Must have been a misplaced foot or too much weight in one spot. But either way, the ground had given out from under you, and you were sent plummeting into the darkness along with some lava rock.

You were aware only of the blackness of your surroundings, and how much it hurt as you continued to slide and roll further into what you assumed was a lava tube. You’d heard about these from one of the away team geologists, how when lava runs around something and then that something decays or is moved, it forms a tube. The lecture was running through your mind as you tumbled further into the planet. When you finally stopped moving, you couldn’t remember if the ensign had mentioned anything about navigating these lava tubes.

It was quiet down here, and you find yourself beginning to panic. Bile rises in your throat and you heart rate spikes. You’re alone. Deep in some sort of cave. And you can’t see a thing.

The ground feels freezing underneath you. You can hear some more small rocks clattering down the tube towards you, but nothing else. The team will find you, right? You should stay put for awhile. They have Ground Penetrating Radar that can detect you, and they’ll send someone down to get you.

In order to distract yourself, you try to think through who they’ll send. The Captain would want to go, but they also need to reach the civilization before dark. So they’ll split up. The geologist will probably stay to use the GPR, and Spock will go with Kirk, as usual. Where will Bones go? Leonard…

If someone ever asked you about your feelings for the doctor, you’d deny it. But if Nyota got you drunk and asked the same question, you’d admit everything. You had liked McCoy ever since you joined the Enterprise. Being Jim Kirk’s friend from the academy, you automatically made friends with anyone who could tell Jim off and get away with it, and Leonard definitely fell into that category. When the Captain screwed up, it was you two who set him straight. You and Bones always been friends, eating lunch together, going on missions together, and even working together from time to time. When you couldn’t sleep, you’d come down to the med bag and help organize files or equipment. Leonard’s drawers never had labels on them before.

A memory of him scratching his head at the little stickers made you smile, but it was interrupted by your name, shouted loud and clear. Bones.

“I’m here!” You screamed, your voice cracking.

Quick feet tapped across the lava rock towards you, and you wished so badly that you could see him.

“I’ve got you,” he said, placing a hand on your shoulder. “Are you hurt?”

You wiggled around a bit, feeling for any major injuries.

“No I think- I think I’m okay. I’m okay. Just very bruised.” You laugh dryly, but it quickly turns into tears. Why were you crying? You couldn’t stop. Your breathing came in short gasps again and you began to shake.

“Hey. Hey.” Leonard quickly sat down with you, and pulled you to him with one arm around your waist. His other hand he placed on your chest, reminding you to breath normally. His lips ghosted the hair above your ear, a quiet kiss.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered, and you nodded minutely.

Once your breathing had evened, you could feel his encouraging smile against your ear, and the soft tug of his hand at your waist. He felt warm and safe, and suddenly crying over the cave seemed foolish.

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled, and he leaned away slightly.

“Don’t be. We all have moments like these.”

He began to stand up, using his hand on your waist to guide you up as well.

“I can’t see a thing,” you said nervously.

“I know. Just close your eyes. And listen. And trust me. I’m going to tell you where to step.” His voice was probably the most comforting thing you could have asked for, and you were immensely glad that they sent Leonard instead of anyone else.

“Close my eyes? I already can’t see.”

“Exactly. But you expect to see darkness when your eyes are closed, not when they’re opened. Just shut them tight, and you’re less likely to panic about how dark it is.”

It sounded stupid, but you tried it anyway. He was right.

“Okay,” you breathed, and he began to guide you out of the cave.

His hand never left your waist.

[obscure-reference-girl]

Masks & Misunderstandings Chapter 1

Pairing: Pavel Chekov/Leonard McCoy

Warnings: Swearing, Drinking, Explicit Sexual Content, minor depiction of violence/injury associated with dangerous away missions

Word Count: 2984

Story Summary: Leonard thought that a nightclub where you had to wear a mask was idiotic, but he humored Jim and accompanied him to the club during shore leave anyway. After Jim fucked off into the crowd of dancing bodies without so much as a ‘never you mind’, Leonard went looking for him and found something unexpected. Meet unexpected: sexy, young, blonde...and if he reminded him a bit too much of a certain Russian navigator he wasn't going to linger on that thought.

Chapter Summary: Same as story for this one

Author’s Notes: This is my first time sharing posting a fic on tumblr, but I love my fandom community on here and wanted to share.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45899593/chapters/115526359

Leonard Mccoy thought that he must spend at least twenty-five percent of his time sighing at James Kirk. He didn’t think anyone could blame him either. It was endlessly frustrating to have a best friend who was a genius and somehow also incredibly stupid. Jim was a good man, and a great captain, but he just took such immense joy in ‘shit stirring’ as Leonard’s mother would say. He had a knack for finding dangerous situations and throwing himself headlong into them. He also had no respect for the dangers of strange alcohols and alien STDs.

It was this last character flaw that found Leonard in bars and nightclubs far more often than would be his druthers on shore leave. Sure, he liked his alcohol, but he liked to drink it alone, in his quarters, like a proper divorced old-codger. He supposed he wasn’t being entirely fair to himself. He was a lonely old curmudgeon, but he wasn’t entirely without friends or socialization. He did like to play a game of cards on the ship with the booze and conversation free-flowing, or go out for a drink at a low-key pub with Jim and Scotty, but the key phrase there was low-key. He felt entirely too old for the blaring noise and flashing lights of the current establishment. Scotty, of course, had down-right refused to come when Jim had asked him. Leonard felt that he did not have this luxury. As Jim’s doctor, and more importantly best friend, he felt responsible to at least try to prevent an interstellar incident. He would much rather be drinking a good bourbon in his room while reading the latest issue of Xenomedicine (there was an interesting paper on the Andorian lymphatic system that he was looking forward to), but the younger man was determined to “have fun” so Leonard did his best to humor him. Which meant that here he was, sitting at the bar of an alien nightclub, drinking some sort of electric blue alcohol that Jim has purchased him before fucking off into the crowd of dancing bodies without so much as a ‘never you mind’.

In an effort to “blend”, Leonard was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved, black, uniform undershirt. His boots were also uniform and far clunkier than anything he saw around him. They would be hell to try to dance in. It was a good thing that Leonard Mccoy did not dance. He took another drink of the impossibly blue drink in front of him and grimaced. It tasted like cheap vodka and blue curaçao. That combination might have been fine when he was nineteen, but he liked to think that his palette had become reasonably more refined since then. His nose scrunched and the mask he was wearing jabbed at it uncomfortably. For some god-forsaken reason, patrons were required to wear masks at this club. It was stupid, and downright dangerous in his opinion, but he had reminded himself that he was humoring Jim and that it wasn’t like he had any intentions of personally getting up to any shenanigans anyway. So he had let Jim tie a plain, black mask made of a slightly stiff leather material around his head. It rested on top of nose and cheekbones and was only uncomfortable if he scrunched his nose. He guessed that meant the alcohol was going to have to go.

As the ship’s CMO it wasn’t as if the masks made much of a difference to him where his crewmates were concerned. There were some crewman that he had not personally given a physical, but generally speaking he had seen enough of just about everyone on the ship to know that it was Gaila over there in the short blue dress dancing with the female Tellarite and Sulu in the black tank top off dancing with a group of ensigns from security. At least that group looked they were just having a good time with some friends and not like they would be coming to him in the morning with mysterious STDs. He couldn’t say the same for Jim who was conspicuously absent from his line of sight.

Leonard peered around, trying to catch sight of him,  but was having no success. He decided his only option was to abandon his drink and wade into the mass of dancing bodies. It wasn’t as though he was going to finish it anyway. He sighed and stood up from the bar stool, throwing a few credits down on the counter as a tip. He carefully made his way over to the dancefloor, dodging groping couples and stumbling drunks. As he approached the edge of the dancefloor he caught a flash of blonde hair and focused in on a dancing body a few yards away from him. It only took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t Jim. The hair was far too curly and the body much too lean. He also wasn’t wearing the same mask that Jim had been as though the rest wasn’t a dead giveaway.

The man’s mask reminded him of the mask from that one ancient musical that Jocelyn had dragged him to see what seemed like a lifetime ago. What was the name of it? Phantom of the Opera House, or something like that. Except this mask was black and covered the entirety of the upper half of the face along with the one side that descended to cover the lower half. It covered the bridge of the boy’s nose too. He really couldn’t make out much more than pale skin and a strong jawline from the portion of the man’s face that was visible. The man certainly wasn’t hiding the rest of his body though. He was shirtless, and sweat glistened off his luminescent pale skin. He was definitely human, but Leonard didn’t recognize the freckles and moles scattered across his shoulders and chest. He supposed it wasn’t that crazy that there would be other humans on vacation at the pleasure planet where they were currently docked for a bit of much needed shore leave. The Broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist and a tight ass clad in leather pants that hugged him in all the right places.

The man, or boy really now that he was closer and had a better look-though when he had moved closer to get a better look he couldn’t say- fuck, he couldn’t be older than his early twenties. He was certainly too young for Leonard to consider even if the prospect of a liaison with a human who was not part of the crew was certainly tempting. The boy was dancing with two masculine aliens who certainly seemed to be enjoying sharing his attention. Leonard tried to shake himself out of the trance he found himself in, tried to turn around and walk away, but somehow he couldn’t. It’s not like he’d ever exhibited any voyeuristic tendencies, but here he was watching the boy writhing between the two aliens, unable to drag his gaze away.

The song changed and the beat dropped to a slower, almost heartbeat like rhythm with a predatory edge to it. The change in music was almost enough to startle Leonard to movement when the boy looked up and caught his gaze. The boy’s movements had slowed in accordance to the music and he was panting lightly, his plush pink lips parted. His tongue darted out to moisten them and Len could think of about a million things he’d like to do with tongue, that young, nubile tongue. That sobering thought was enough to snap himself out of it and he turned away to leave the dancefloor. He hoped to find that Jim had made his way back to the bar at some point. He made it just to the edge of the dancefloor when he felt a slim hand on his arm.

He turned to see the boy standing there before him, dancing companions abandoned in the crowd. He insinuated himself right into Leonard’s personal space and Len could now see the sweat making the damp curls stick a bit to his forehead and the shadow of light stubble along his jaw. He held Leonard’s eyes with a piercing gaze. Len tried, but he wasn’t able to discern what color they were. They were definitely light, but the strobe lights reflected in them: red, then purple, then blue. Regardless of what color they were, they were gorgeous. Len swallowed thickly and tried to force his mouth to form words. Before he could manage to get anything out the boy had pressed himself up against Len with one hand pressing into his chest and the other sliding up to cup the back of his neck. The boy leaned forward and nipped at his ear, and pushing their bodies together even more. Len could now feel the kid-no definitely not a kid, not with this raw sexual confidence- the man’s erection now pressing hard against his thigh. He knew that his own hard-on was all too obvious. And if part of the reason for his erection was how much the young man reminded him of a certain Russian Junior Lieutenant, well he would deal with that tomorrow. He would like to blame the reaction on the alcohol, he really would, but he had only consumed half of his first drink before abandoning it. The man must have found Len equally appealing since he moved his lips down and licked a hot, wet, stripe up Len’s neck before dropping his hands and hooking two fingers through one of Len’s belt loops, tugging forward gently. The boy-no man, cocked his head slightly and smirked at Len as though issuing a challenge. Stupidly Len felt himself giving a very small nod.

The man took Len’s hand and he found himself being led away from the bar and down a dark hallway. He could barely make out couples writhing in darkly lit recesses as they passed by before the man suddenly stopped and pulled Leonard into a dark alcove. He could no longer see the flashing lights of the dancefloor, but he could still feel the low beat of the music pulsing though the floor and into his body. The intense pulse and the man’s sharp gaze were intoxicating in a way that had nothing to with alcohol. His pupils were blown wide with desire, but the light was still too faint for Len to make out the color. He mentally cursed at how badly he wanted to know, but was quickly distracted by the man’s hands sliding up under his t-shirt. Suddenly he was moving again and his own hands were running over hot flesh that covered angular bones and lean muscle. He couldn’t believe that he was really doing this, but he also couldn’t quite bring his lust addled mind to care. He let his hands slide down the mystery man’s back until they cupped his very firm ass, pulling their hips together. He let out a small groan and the man tipped his head back at the sound, a harsh breath issuing from his nose.

It was strange to be this intimate with someone who was so quiet, but Len was assured of his partners consent at every step by the eager push and pull of his hands on Len’s body. He couldn’t help himself when he leaned forward and ran his lips along the man’s exposed jawline. He nipped and kissed his way down the man’s neck until he latched on and sucked a bruising kiss where the man’s neck met his shoulder. He started to pull away before he could actually leave a hickey like a fucking teenager when the man let out a sigh and tangled a hand in Leonard’s hair, keeping his mouth pressed against the spot. Never known to be an unobliging lover Leonard continued sucking a bruise into the man’s skin until suddenly he drew away slightly and reached between them to tug at the button of Leonard’s jeans. The man tugged Leonard’s pants down, pulling his boxers down with them to below his cock and Len’s eyes just about damn near rolled back in his head when he felt slim, but strong fingers wrap around him. The hand moved up and down his length a few times, but it was obviously unnecessary. Leonard doubted that he had ever been harder in his life. He groaned as he felt the hand leave him, but opened his eyes to see the man pulling a packet of lubricant from his pocket before shoving his own pants roughly down around his knees. He handed the packet to Len and turned around keeping his gaze over his shoulder, still issuing that challenging look. His gaze flicked down to the packet in Len’s hand accompanied by a small jerk of his head before coming back up to his eyes. Len didn’t need words to get the message “get on with it, then”. The man pressed his hands into the wall and stuck his ass out. Leonard tried to not fumble as he ripped open the packet of lube and slicked up his right hand, placing the remainder of the packet in his shirt pocket

Len gently pressed one finger to the other man’s ass spreading lube around and teasing a bit before gently dipping inside. He waited for a reassuring nod before adding a second finger. The man’s head had dropped forward to one of his forearms pressed against the wall and Leonard absently ran his free hand up the man’s back to twirl in the curls at the base of his neck. When the man started fucking himself on Len’s fingers, he got the message and started scissoring them and rubbing them against the soft spot just a couple of inches inside. The other man’s moans encouraged him to add a third finger and before long the man was fucking himself on Leonard’s fingers in earnest. Leonard removed his fingers almost like a question and the man groaned again and nodded harshly. With that encouragement, Leonard pushed some more lube into the man’s ass with his fingers and spread the rest of the lubricant liberally over his cock. He lined himself up and pushed gently and then it was like all of the air had been sucked out of his chest.

It had been a long time since Leonard had been with a man and he had almost forgotten just how tightly another man’s ass gripped your cock. Surely he hadn’t forgotten entirely. This really was tighter than anything he had ever felt before. He eased in painstakingly slowly, letting the other man set the pace. He had been on the receiving end of things a few times himself and knew that it could be a bit uncomfortable at first, even if highly pleasurable. He reached his hand around to help by stroking the other man’s cock. It was a little longer and a little thinner than his own, but it felt perfect in his hand. He couldn’t help but imagine what this man’s cock would like sliding into his own ass and had to sharply shake the thought out of his head. It wasn’t like he was ever going to see this man again. He couldn’t let the torturously delightful sounds the other man was making cause him to forget that. Even if it felt like his skin was on fire and his brain was full of static and he would never be able to get this man out of his head. He was buried to the base in heat now and felt like he might combust in spite of the scientific impossibility.

He was trying to wait patiently for the signal to move when the other man started fucking himself back onto Leonard’s cock. Len took up the initiative and started fucking the man for real, the slapping of skin drowned out by the music that couldn’t quite cover the cries and moans that they were making. He knew that people could hear and he knew that he should care, but he just…couldn’t. He was pounding into the man now, so hard that he would be worried he was causing him pain if it weren’t for the fact that he kept crying out in pleasure. His hand, too, moved faster over the other man’s cock and he could feel the tightening around him signaling the man’s impending release. With a soft cry, the man came, spilling over Leonard’s hand as his ass tightened to a vice around his cock. And if that didn’t just send him over the edge like a bolt of white-hot lightning flashing through him. He came with a guttural howl that someone had to have noticed. His own heartbeat echoed in his ears drowning out all sounds as his cock twitched over and over except for a word that he couldn’t identify in a language he definitely did not speak.

He regretfully slipped out of the warm depths and tucked himself back into his pants. He would clean up when he made it back to his quarters. It wasn’t as though he planned on hanging around. He leaned back against the wall, pressing the side of his face to the cool concrete, his eyes fluttering closed, the blood rushing in his ears. He knew that there was no point in trying to get to know this man, there was no future here, but he couldn’t help the words that slipped past his lips.

“What’s your name?” He breathed out harshly. When there was no response for several beats he opened his eyes and found himself alone. Fuck. It was only then that he realized he had never even properly kissed the man and if that wouldn’t just haunt him the rest of his life the memory of the most mind boggling orgasm he had ever experienced certainly would.

[greeneyedpixie99]

Stars *Leonard "Bones" McCoy* Chapter Two

Summary: After living in her brother's shadow since the day they were born, Eleanor "Nell" Kirk decides to take her life into her own hands. Joining Starfleet, she finds not only a place to belong but potentially, someone she wouldn't mind spending her life with.

Pairing: Eleanor "Nell" Kirk x Leonard "Bones" McCoy

Warning: None that I know of, if you find any let me know!

CHAPTER TWO

        "We have received a distress signal from the U.S.S Kobayashi Maru." Nyota started out, nudging my half present form with her shoulder to jerk me from the mental spiral I had fallen into. Jumping a little I launched into my lines from the little script we’re supposed to be following.

     "The ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them." God help me, why was my brother turned around in the Captain's chair, a cocky look on his face. I mean he was even eating an apple as if that would make him look more in control and trustworthy. He looked like a pompous ass, an ass clearly not taking his third attempt seriously as he had told me and Len he would.

     "Starfleet command has ordered us to rescue them... captain." Rotating to share an annoyed glance with Leonard, who was clearly just as annoyed, until he was forced turns back to his "station" for his portion of the test.

     "Klingon vessels have entered the Neutral Zone, and they are firing upon us."

     "That's okay." I'm going to kill him. That was all I could think, glaring at this prone figure out of the corner of my eye.

     "That's okay?" I gritted out through clenched teeth.

     "Yeah, don't worry about it." Nyota, Myself and Leonard all shared a look before I rolled backwards in my chair closer to level an annoyed and confused look to my brother.

     "Jim, what are you doing? I thought you wanted to pass this time, not fail." Jim offered a cheeky look before shoving the chair gently back to my station.

     "Three more Klingon Warbirds, decloaking- and targeting our ship- I don't suppose this is a problem either?" The bite in Len’s words was not easily missed by anyone, except apparently my brother.

     "Nah." Burying my head in my hands, a groan echoed around the testing room. My brother's an idiot.

     "They're firing, Captain."

     "Alert medical bay to prepare to receive all crew members from the damaged ship."

     "And how do you expect us to rescue them when we're surrounded by Klingons?" Nyota and I intoned again. This had gone straight past exasperated and annoyed and straight to irritated and frustrated. We were all graded on this damn test, most of us could get a pass because we were following orders issued. But all of us would fail this one if Jim didn’t start taking it seriously.

     "Alert medical." Shaking my head, I nodded for Nyota hoping if we just did our 'job' we could get through virtually unscathed.

     "Our ship is being hit- shields at sixty percent."

     "I understand."

     "Should we at least, I dunno, fire back?"

     "Mmmm... no."

     "Of Course not." This was getting ridiculous, standing, I was three steps from my chair and closer to Jim when the lights flickered and then shut off. Goosebumps scattered across my skin as the overhead lights flashed red twice, and then the usual lights flickered back on as if nothing had happened. Something wasn’t right, dropping back down in my chair, pocketing the ass chewing I was planning for my brother, I shot my gaze back to the screen only to let out a strangled gasp. That wasn’t right, it couldn’t be.

     "What the..."

     "The Kobayashi Maru is still in distress but the Klingons have stopped firing."

     "Arm photons. Prepare to fire on the Klingon warbirds." Shaking my head, I quickly executed my part of the “plan”, before tugging a spare notebook free from the bag sitting at my feet. Jotting down notes, body language, actual language and every piece of what was occurring. I had to know what the hell my idiot brother was doing and why the lights had gone out. All of that was controlled by the Professors in the viewing room, and I was certain they hadn’t done it.  Still, even with these little clues it was like I was drawing a blank.

     "Begin rescue of the stranded crew. So, we've eliminated all enemy ships, no one on board was injured and the successful rescue of the Kobayashi Maru crew is underway. Anything else." Oh god, I thought, this moron cheated. That was the only possible way he had passed a test that had been proven to be impossible to win since the new professor had started programming it a full year before we arrived. This wasn’t good, because I was certain the professor was an alien race- and they usually didn’t much like it when a human cheated and made them look bad.

     "Leonard, I know my brother and I'm 100% sure he cheated. You saw how... uncaring he was. He didn't even try, he waited until the lights went out and then went back on to do anything. And you know that that blackout wasn’t meant to happen!" Leonard placed a hand over my mouth, moving us out of the hall and into a secluded classroom.

     "I agree but until we have proof other than his odd behavior during the test, there isn't much we can do. Besides I'm sure everyone else has figured it out too. Calm down and go turn in your test log, before someone thinks you helped him." Taking a shaky breath I buried myself in Leonard’s arms, relishing in the comfort his hugs always brought. Releasing him, I turned and quickly dropped the test log into the test memory bank just outside the classroom I’d been dragged into. Meeting back up with Leonard and Jim, I quickly grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him through campus and shoved him into the wall behind the science buildings.

     "You IDIOT!"

     "Calm down princess. You won't get in trouble and neither will Bones. I made sure that I was the only one who could get in trouble if I was caught." Clenching my jaw, I pulled my fist back and threw it into his chest hard. I was about to hit him again only to have Leonard wrap an arm around me to drag me back and make me stop. I was just so angry. After everything, this is what he did.

     "You bet your ass I’m not getting in trouble, I have half a mind to turn your ass in! What were you thinking, did you think this was how you would make dad proud? Keep up his legacy by cheating. He’d be beyond disappointed in you, and frankly so am I!" Jim rolled his eyes, shoving past the two of us pausing just long enough to shoot us a dirty look of his own, the spring air blowing through his blonde hair.

     "I know that Nell, but I needed a win, even if it meant cheating. Not all of us can accomplish what the two of you have. I'll see you at dinner." With that Jim left the two alone in the classroom.

     "What the hell did he mean what we have Len?"

     "Not a clue doll. Come on, before someone comes by and thinks we're doing something we're not supposed to be." With that Leonard stormed through the courtyard, my much shorter frame not far behind, confused as to why the two most important men in my life were acting as if there was something I was failing to see.

I just hope that this wouldn’t come back and bite us all in the ass, that whatever may come Jim wouldn’t get kicked out. That I wouldn’t be punished, again, for something my brother had done. That for once I was someplace where I was seen as an individual and not a copy and paste of my brother. But most of all, I hoped that the pit that was forming in my stomach had nothing to do with what had transpired in that test today, and I wouldn’t have to turn him in for the breach of Starfleet code of conduct.

Classes couldn’t seem to hold my focus, my mind already miles away. But unlike during the Kobayashi Maru, it wasn’t on the what if’s with Len but rather on the what if’s with my brother. Even the Xenolinguistics Professor seemed to notice my absent mind and sent me to the labs to get my mind more focused. Which didn’t work as well as I had hoped.

By the time classes had been let out for the day I decided to just avoid both boys. The less time I spent with them the less their actions, as odd as they were, would lead me to asking more questions I wasn’t getting the answer to. My dorm wasn’t empty when I returned, Gina was sprawled across the bed in one of her favorite night gowns splayed seductively across the bed. Likely expecting either Jim or Len to be trailing behind me. It wasn’t hard to miss the disappointment as my lone figure shut the door behind me.

“Oh, It’s you.”

“Yes Gina, just me, I returned to our dorm alone. Why is that such a surprise?”

“You always have that yummy brother of yours and that handsome doctor trailing after you like little puppies. Did they finally abandon you?” Rolling my eyes, I collected a set of civilian clothes and ducked into the bathroom. When I came back out showered and dry and dressed in clean clothes I was thankful to see Gina gone. After the stress of today, the last thing I wanted to deal with was more doubt about Len and our friendship thrown at me.