We'll Always Have Danger - Star Trek Secret Santa 2018
Kirk had the world on a string.
Two days ago, McCoy had made him the happiest man aboard the Enterprise when he agreed to marry him. According to McCoy, it'd been the "cheesiest thing I've seen since my last grilled cheese sandwich," but he loved it nonetheless.
While Spock was on an away mission, he invited McCoy on a date in the holodeck. Program: summer's day in Georgia under a peach tree, picnic with mint juleps. In other words, home.
After finishing their drinks, Kirk pulled him into a deep kiss, all the while slipping a ring on his finger.
When McCoy pulled back in surprise, Kirk held him close so they were still touching foreheads. Eyes shining, voice hopeful, he poured out his heart, then asked, "Marry me, Bones?"
With no hesitation, McCoy broke into a grin and nodded fervently. "Yes, yes, of course," he agreed, pulling his newly betrothed in for another kiss.
Now, it was Spock's turn.
Kirk had let McCoy in on his plan to propose to Spock next almost as soon as they had left the holodeck. Or rather, he recruited him to help him think of a plan.
They both loved Spock (McCoy at times begrudgingly so), and they both wanted to spend their lives with him. It was something the three of them began discussing more and more as the past year went on, late nights whiled away talking about the future beyond the Enterprise, beyond Starfleet. Their future. But thinking of a proposal worthy of the great Vulcan was proving rather difficult. It made Kirk almost wish he had proposed to both of his boyfriends at the same time. But no, he just had to make them personal.
It was McCoy who thought, and ultimately convinced Kirk, of which direction to take it.
They were cuddling on the couch in the doctor's quarters the night before Spock came back from his mission, mulling over the possibilities.
"I'm telling ya, Jim, simple is the way to go," McCoy explained for the umpteenth time that evening. "Dare I start sounding like him, but it's the logical choice."
"I know, I know. I just...it's Spock, alright? You know as well as I do how much he means to me, to both of us," Kirk answered, bringing the other's hand up to plant a kiss on it. "The Vulcan half may not want frills, but I want to give the human half a thrill." He wanted to give Spock the world. He'd give him the Enterprise if it meant him saying yes.
McCoy snorted back laughter and looked up at him. "You did not just say that."
Kirk paused and stared wide-eyed back. "And what if I did?"
He let the laughter bubble up now as he shook his head. "My fiancé, the great poet of the Alpha Quadrant," he declared proudly through a veil of amusement.
Despite the mocking, Kirk smiled at the use of "fiancé." It made it that much more real.
"Look, darlin'," McCoy said as he settled down, his expression taking on an air of sincerity. "Spock won't care how you ask him. He'll appreciate it, sure. But in the end, all that'll matter to him is that it's you who asks him, and that you want to spend the rest of your life with him."
"I know," Kirk sighed, leaning his head against his. "I know..."
By the next morning, before Spock returned to the Enterprise, they had a plan. Everything was set and everyone was aware of their role in it. Somehow, to McCoy's bafflement, Kirk had devised a plan that was both complex and yet still utterly simple. Naturally.
When Spock stepped off the transporter, Scotty immediately told the bridge they could leave orbit when ready and then directed him to head to sickbay. Upon his arrival, he found McCoy and Kirk hunched over the doctor's desk, their heads bent low as they discussed some matter. When they saw him, they straightened up, McCoy resting his arms behind his back and Kirk crossing his, both of them wearing a conspiratorial smile.
Spock simply raised an eyebrow at their behavior. "You wanted to see me, Doctor?"
"Yes, Spock, right this way," McCoy gestured, leading the way further into the room. He was quick to hide the ring on his hand as he turned.
Just as Spock passed Kirk, however, Uhura's voice came over the comm. "Senior officers report the bridge, please. Priority three."
Spock looked between his boyfriends, his brow furrowing in confusion to match theirs. In all his years with Starfleet, he had never heard of a priority three call. Perhaps it was a new code, and Starfleet Command was once again using the Enterprise as a test ship.
After a moment, Kirk merely shrugged and said, "She sounded pretty urgent. We should go check it out."
The three of them walked down the corridor and into a turbolift. As Kirk gave the command to go to the bridge, Spock caught the tail-end of a smirk shared between him and McCoy. He was almost about to question it when, suddenly, the turbolift shook violently and came to a halt.
"Uhura, what's going on?" Kirk immediately asked over the comm. Silence. "Uhura? Bridge?" He pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. "Kirk to Enterprise. If anyone can hear me, please respond." Nothing. He tapped the device against his hand. "Ship's comm relay must be out."
McCoy slowly rose from where the shaking had knocked him against the side of the turbolift and straightened the hem of his shirt with a roll of his neck. "What was that?!"
Spock thought for a moment before answering, "I do not know. But from what it felt like, I do not believe it was an attack. Perhaps an anomaly?"
The other two stared at him in surprise over his intuition, before sharing a concerned look between themselves. Whatever it was, this was not part of the plan.
After Spock spent the better part of twenty minutes trying to restart the turbolift through its electrical panel, McCoy called it. "Face it, fellas, we're stuck."
"We are not stuck, Doctor. We are-"
"We're stuck, Spock."
With McCoy's hint of finality ringing in the air, he looked over to Kirk, who was staring off in the other direction while chewing on his bottom lip. McCoy shuffled over and leaned into his shoulder against the wall.
"Whatcha thinking about, darlin'?"
Everything. About the ship, about their current dilemma, about the plan. He'd been probably no more than three decks away from seeing his plan through when the ship was hit by...whatever. It was actually perfect, too.
The three of them would've stepped out onto the bridge, and Spock would've been surprised to find it deserted by the crew. Perhaps he would've even gone to his station to see if something had happened. When he turned back around, Kirk would step forward, bring him to the center of the room, and touch fingers with him. In that moment, he'd lay his soul bare to him, let him know how much he loved both him and McCoy, how he wanted to spend the remainder of his days with them. He'd slip a ring on his finger, and McCoy would join them. With the Enterprise as their sole witness, the three of them would be engaged.
But no, something had to happen. Now regardless of how this situation ended up, his plan was ruined.
Something always had to happen.
Kirk responded with a quick flick of his eyes towards Spock, whose back was still turned to them as he tried to activate the lift.
McCoy shrugged, then leaned in to whisper in Kirk's ear, "I think you should go for it now. No frills, remember?"
That earned him a look of disbelief. Sure, Kirk had the ring in his pocket, but this was so not the time. The ship was in potential danger, they were stuck, and, if nothing else, Spock was preoccupied. He would be the first to point out how illogical a proposal would be right then.
And yet...perhaps that illogic would be all the more fitting. This was just another wild adventure in the story of their lives, a rather tame one at that, but it still met all the criteria. Namely, they were in danger, but they were together. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
Kirk found McCoy's hand and gave it a squeeze for reassurance, then pushed himself off the wall and approached Spock. With a gentle hand on the Vulcan's shoulder, he got his attention. "Spock, there's something I need to ask you."
His hand trailed down his arm until their fingers met, which piqued Spock's curiosity. He looked from their hands into Kirk's shining eyes. "Yes?" he prompted.
Kirk found himself a lot more nervous than he expected, and a blush rose to his cheeks. He scrambled to remember the speech he'd prepared for the bridge. "Spock, I...this wasn't how I wanted to do this, but I don't think-"
The sudden jolt of the turbolift starting up again cut him off, and the three of them looked around in bewilderment.
"Hey, we're back online!" McCoy cheered as they started moving towards the bridge again.
But Kirk was shaking his head. Undoubtedly the crew would be swarming the bridge when they got up there, running diagnostics and damage control. That moment was gone. But he still had a shred of this moment to cling onto.
"Hold."
The turbolift again came to a stop at the captain's command and he squared away his shoulders as he looked Spock dead in the eye, his fingers finding their mate's once more. "Spock..."
He could do this.
"Spock," he repeated. "When I first came aboard the Enterprise, I had no idea just how much she would mean to me. I learned quickly that she's a special ship, best in the fleet, for all the obvious reasons. But it wasn't until two years ago that I realized the most important reasons: you and Bones." He nodded behind him towards the doctor, then brought his other hand up to cradle Spock's shoulder before continuing. "When the three of us started dating, I realized that without you two, there is no Enterprise. There's no me. My command would just be an empty chair. But with you and Bones at my side, I'm...my soul is complete. And I want it to stay that way."
Something was flickering in Spock's gaze despite his neutral expression, Kirk could see it clearly, and at that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the custom ring he had made, similar to the one McCoy wore: a mix of the Enterprise's hull and two meteorite fragments, one from Earth and one from Vulcan.
Stepping ever closer, Kirk held up the ring and asked, "So, Spock, will you marry us?"
With a rare, controlled smile, Spock looked between the two of them and answered, "I will."
Kirk had to contain the growing grin on his face as he slid the ring onto Spock's finger. It was official: he was engaged to the loves of his life. Even more so, he'd successfully proposed – twice. In a moment of joy he reached a hand behind Spock's neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Spock obliged, and Kirk reached an arm out to pull McCoy in, squeezing his hand in celebration before peppering him with kisses as well.
With a final glance between the two of them, his arms wrapped around them both, Kirk beamed and finally told the ship, "Resume." The turbolift started back up and by the time the trio reached the bridge, they all stood in a dignified manner, shoulders straight and hands folded behind their backs. Yet internally, their hearts were aflame with excitement, hope, and love. A logical response, Spock would reason.
Indeed, the bridge was buzzing with damage reports and crew members working to contain the situation when they stepped out, yet the efforts seemed to be well underway.
They approached Uhura first, who did a double-take when she saw the three of them. Her eyes asked the unspoken question with just one glance at Spock's hand. After all, the last she was aware of was that they were on their way to the bridge so Kirk could carry out his original plan.
Kirk quelled her curiosity by holding two fingers against Spock's and bringing their hands up for Uhura to see the ring. She squealed at the sight, gave her congratulations, and then came back to reality as she checked the three of them over. "Are you okay?"
"Never better," Kirk relayed for all of them. "What happened?"
"Dense plasma field," Uhura shrugged. "Light damage, no casualties. Science teams studying it now."
Kirk glanced around, her report putting him at ease over the event. His ship, his home, was fine.
With a final nod, he strolled over to his chair and sat down, his betrothed flanking him on either side. He looked from McCoy to Spock, and smiled.
Although they'd never been in any real danger this time around, Kirk was still grateful to once again find himself on the bridge with them, all three together still. Things were different between them now, and for the better, but...
"It always ends like this, doesn't it?" he mused, turning one palm up on his armrest to the doctor on his left and tilting his other arm out to offer two fingers to the Vulcan on his right.
As they both reached for his hands, Spock innocently asked, "What do you mean, Captain?"
Bones laughed and Kirk merely shook his head, smiling all the same.
Indeed it did.
Yo! Happy holidays to Amuk (AGENT Kuma-chan )! I'm your Star Trek Secret Santa! Finally got all those tribbles squared away so I could deliver your gift! ;P
I gotta say, I don't think I've ever had this wild of a ride with a story before. For one thing, I wrote the very end of this first, although, without spoiling anything, let's just say that was going to happen in sickbay at first. Then when I sent you that anon ask, and you were leaning towards angst, I was like, "YES ALRIGHT good" and went in virtual pen blazing. But then as I mulled over the possibilities, it evolved into this mix of both fluff and angst all on its own, really. (The title came to me just now, and I hope you get the little reference. ;))
And for a second thing, for all the ideas I've ever had about this and other OT3s, this is actually the first time I've actually written a three-person relationship from a romantic standpoint. That itself added a whole new dynamic to writing this, but it was a good challenge, and I can only hope it meets your expectations.