Main pairing: Kirk/Spock
Minor pairing: Sulu/Chekov
If you squint: Scotty/Uhura

But above all, this is a fic of the Enterprise crew being legendary.

1.

It was both better and worse than he had dreamed: Spock's eyes were imploring into him and he could feel the short, wet puffs of air brushing against his cheek, but the slickness on the Vulcan's chest was making it difficult to hold on. He was overcome by an insane urge to laugh and cry at the same time; something red and hot was eating him inside, alive.

"Spock... Come on..."

Warm fingers snapped around his wrist and Kirk gasped; it was nothing like his dreams. The blank canvas that appeared in his dreams was flooded with emotions and intricately weaved thought, too much to take in at once; he thought he would explode from the inside. Somewhere at the back of his mind, however, he knew how this was going to go, and he feared for it — it was too much and too terrible to imagine. But there was no delaying it.

"Spock!"

Spock's eyes locked onto his, and long fingers reached for his temple; Kirk gasped, his eyes stung. Desperately grabbing for his friend's hand, he leaned into the touch, and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Yes, do it, do it, do it!"

A blinding light, then the world went dark.

Forty two point six hours earlier

It was a routine mission on a normal-looking planet, one that had many Terran-like qualities and Kirk had deemed it safe to beam down with minimum crew, namely, himself and Spock. Bones had made a case of strong objections, of course, and was overruled; Spock packed two phasers just to make a point and complied with good natured silence on the way down.

They made it about three kilometers away from the beam point when it started to rain.

It took about three drops for Kirk to realise what was going on, having been stuck in weatherless space for too long. He blinked.

"Joy," Kirk said. "Why didn't I think of packing an umbrella before beaming down?"

"We did not expect the rain," his First Officer replied, holding the tricorder higher. "The atmospheric component of the planet would indicate that this weather system is similar to one found on Earth, yet... more intense."

"Intense?" Kirk repeated.

Even as Spock said those words, the rain pelleted onto their heads and Kirk opened his mouth to taste the slightly salty water before its descent bordered on pain. Soon enough, the dribble turned into torrential rain, then effectively a never-ending waterfall, and Kirk was struggling to stand in the sheer force of the downpour. He could barely make out Spock's outline, standing barely feet away, his vision marred by the water.

"I think we should take cover," Kirk yelled.

"Agreed," Spock replied. Frustratingly, he did not seem to lose his cool the same way Kirk did. "There seems to be a cave ahead. We can wait out the rain there."

Kirk's communicator crackled to life just as they entered the cave.

"What did I say about easy missions and you being oxymorons, Jim?" McCoy asked arrogantly.

Kirk grunted in reply and proceeded to peel off his shirt, wringing them dry before looking at them ruefully. "I don't think they can be salvaged at this point," he said, shrugging, then used the dishevelled uniform to mop dry his hair.

"Jim," McCoy's voice came through as a particular brand of persistent, "Are you with me."

"Yeah," Kirk said. "We are in a cave, approximately, uh —" he looked at Spock.

Surely enough, Spock picked up where he left without a pause. "— four point six five kilometres northwest from where we beamed down, Doctor."

McCoy sighed. "I'll have Chekov beam you up," he said, "if you get a cold —"

"Doctor, I should think someone with your medical degree and expertise should know that being caught in the rain is not necessarily related to having —" Spock began, and McCoy groaned audibly.

Chekov came online at that precise moment and interrupted Kirk's endless mirth. "Keptin," the young ensign's voice cackled through the communicator, "zere seems to be something in ze rain zat's nullifying our transporter capabilities. We can't beam you back yet."

Kirk sighed.

"Typical," he said. "Spock, do we have enough supplies to wait until the rain passes?"

"Affirmative. At this rate of downfall, the water in the nearby atmosphere would be depleted shortly."

"Excellent," Kirk said, peering at outside. "Wow, I haven't seen that big a storm in a while — it's really raining cats and dogs out there."

"It is illogical to assume Terran domestic pets would fall out of alien sky, Captain."

Kirk laughed. "I know you are just winding me up, Spock." He shook out the remaining water in his hair and noted with amusement that the rain only made Spock's bowler cut more tame. "Well, I guess we are stuck here for the time being." He eyed the dark cave, lit only by their torches. "Shall we do a bit of exploring in the meanwhile, Mr. Spock?"

Spock inclined his head. "I would be amenable to this suggestion, provided that we do not lose contact with our ship."

"You hear that Chekov?"

"Aye sir," Chekov replied quickly. "But ze scanners show that ze cave you are in is not wery big, sir, you will likely hit a dead end in... five hundred meters, sir."

"Oiy." Kirk said with a sigh as he haphazardly threw on his wrinkled, damp shirt again. "Trust us to be stranded in a boring small cave, eh, Spock?"

"I... am not certain 'boring' is an accurate description, Captain," came Spock's reply, somewhat further away. Kirk turned around and saw his First Officer had already moved to the end of the cave, and was now studying the cave wall intently.

"What is it?" Kirk asked, striding towards him cautiously. When he approached the end of the cave, his eyes widened — there were seven handprints on the stone wall, carved several feet apart, in a semi circle.

"What are those?" Kirk said, squinting up close. The handprints appeared ancient yet deliberate, like someone had carved them out specifically for a purpose.

"I believe," Spock said slowly, pacing from one handprint to another, "those function as a type of switch."

"A switch," Kirk repeated. "Like a door?"

"Affirmative," Spock replied. "There is an 87.3% something lies beyond those walls, Captain."

Kirk contemplated this for a brief second and pulled out his communicator again. "Chekov," he said, "are you sure about that dead end in our scanners?"

"Aye Keptin, positive Keptin. Zere are no hollow areas behind where you are standing, sir."

Kirk scowled. "Scan the immediate vicinity — no," he amended as an idea came to his head, "Scan below where we are standing, are there any hollow space below our feet?"

A flurry of activity and beeps, then, "Ze scanners are unable to penetrate the planet's surface, sir, but..."

"But?"

"We detect traces of oxygen below, sir," Chekov said hesitantly. "It is probable that there is hollow space below where you are standing, sir."

Kirk exchanged a look with Spock. "Well?"

Spock appeared to contemplate this for a moment before answering. "Captain, our scanners showed no life-signs on the surface of the planet prior to our arrival."He eyed the handprint thoughtfully.

"But it's possible for indigenous life to live sub-terrain," Kirk supplied.

"Possible, but not very likely," Spock said. "The surface of the planet showed many Terran-like qualities including its ecosystems. There would be no logical reason to live underground if the surface of the planet supports an evolutionary trajectory similar to that of Earth."

"Hmm." Kirk made a non committal reply and surveyed the wall again. "And yet, this appears... man made."

Spock inclined his head in agreement, with a slight furrow in his brow. Kirk mulled this over for a few moments, then shrugged.

"Well, I guess the logical thing to do now would be..."

He pressed down on one of the handprints.

"Captain!" Spock exclaimed, rushing to Kirk's side in evident alarm.

Nothing happened.

"That's anti-climatic," Kirk mumbled. "Yes, Mr. Spock?"

Spock stood stiffly next to him in parade rest, a tell-tale sign that he was irritated, often a result of Kirk's brazenness. "I do not think that action constitutes as being logical, Captain," he said distastefully.

Kirk grinned playfully. "You wanna have a go, Mr. Spock?"

"I do not," Spock replied tersely. "If you could refrain from — "

"No, seriously, come put your hand here," Kirk interjected, "my fingers don't really fit in those long slender prints. Maybe yours will."

He had only meant it half-heartedly so that he wouldn't be told off like a child in an advanced lab, but the more he studied the handprint, the eerier it became. "Hmm."

Spock came up beside him, reproach forgotten. "Curious. It does seem to fit my hand better..." he murmured, stretching out his fingers tentatively.

Kirk watched the motion wordlessly, his gaze trailing over Spock's fingers, before snapping back into attention and realising that it was probably grossly inappropriate in Vulcan culture. Spock did not seem to notice, however, he was eyeing him impassively, hand hovering over the print on the wall, waiting for confirmation.

"Go on," Kirk said softly, stepping ever slightly closer and bracing himself. "Don't worry — I got you."

Something softened in Spock's eye for a moment — could be the trick of the lighting — then Spock carefully fitted his hand in the wall.

For a moment, nothing changed. Kirk was feeling slightly stupid for the brief moment of tenderness that trespassed when Spock made a small noise, and the handprint began to glow.

"What the —"

Spock retracted his hands quickly and watched the glow fade from the wall, but it lingered now enough that Kirk knew he was not hallucinating. He gaped at Spock while Spock studied his hand with a slightly raised eyebrow, a sign of evident surprise — before another idea came into his head.

Kirk ran along the slightly curved cave wall, studying each handprint before he found one that looked most promising. Turning around to find Spock closely on his heels, he whispered — though he was not sure why he did — "I think this is me."

For a brief moment Spock appeared torn between protest and curiosity, but curiosity eventually won. He hovered close to Kirk and nodded, firmly, once.

Kirk slid his hand into the print, and yes, it fit most smugly, like a glove. A brief second passed, then another — then suddenly he felt it, a torrent of something warm travelling up his arm, just as the handprint began to glow in the wall, too.

"Fascinating," Spock remarked.

Kirk whipped his hand out and stared at the fading glow, too bewildered to answer. The colour of the glow for his handprint was gold, whereas Spock's was blue, coincidentally matching their Starfleet colours.

"Still think this is some kind of switch to a door, Mr. Spock?" Kirk asked.

"Affirmative," Spock replied. "In fact, I recalculate the possibility to be approximately 97.5%."

"Mmm," Kirk said, eyes darting from one handprint to another. There were seven in total, six of them relatively large, clearly male, while one was decidedly smaller —

His heart gave a tiny jolt. "No," he breathed, feeling suddenly eerily cold, "...really?"

"Captain?" Spock eyed him warily.

"Spock," he said in a hushed tone, dragging him to the smaller handprint, "Does this look like — like Uhura's to you?"

An eyebrow flicked, but Spock did not appear otherwise perturbed. Kirk fought to suppress the goosebumps while Spock carefully surveyed the handprint, then nodded grimly, once.

"I believe so, Captain."

Kirk pressed his lips into a thin line while their gaze simultaneously shifted to the other handprints, four more, male, one slightly smaller, possibly younger.

"Three guesses to whose handprints those are," Kirk said under his breath.

"No need," Spock said calmly, "Given the circumstances, it is logical to surmise that those handprints belong to — "

"Bones, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov," Kirk said, pointing at each one.

"— The entire senior crew of the Enterprise," Spock concluded.

Kirk swallowed an uneasy lump in his throat. "Wow," he breathed. "Creepy."

For once, Spock did not correct him on the use of illogical human emotional expressions. "I believe the term is apt," he said simply. "The statistical chance of a phenomenon such as this happening on a routine mission is less than 0.000000000013%."

"You lost me after the third zero," Kirk said absently, still eyeing the handprints. "Astronomical, I get it. I think we should investigate." He flipped open his communicator. "Chekov, has the storm let up yet?"

"Mostly, sir, mostly. Would you like to standby to beam up?"

Kirk glanced at Spock, who flitted out a hand to stall him at the wrist. "Captain, it is highly inadvisable for the entire senior bridge crew to beam down at the planet altogether," he urged quietly.

Kirk nodded. "I agree," he said, "but I have a sneaky feeling that whatever this door/switch thing is, it won't open unless everyone has their hand on their prints."

He could tell by Spock's eyes that the First Officer agreed with him, and Spock retreated his hand. Only then did he realise Spock's finger had been on his pulse point at the wrist, and all of a sudden he felt strangely aware of his heartbeat through the skin.

"Er," Kirk said, frowning slightly to pull his mind back to attention, "Actually —no, Chekov, you are beaming down."

"Me, sir?" Chekov sounded surprised.

"Yes, along with Dr. McCoy, Lieutenant Uhura, Lieutenant Sulu and Chief Engineer Scott," Kirk said. "Oh and, ask Bones to bring me a spare shirt. And a towel. And, uh, a medical kit, one of those magic briefcases he always keeps for landing parties."

There was a brief, worried pause, then, "Aye sir. Beaming down in three minutes."

"Kirk out."

Soon, swirling gold beams announced the arrival of the senior crew of the Enterprise, and Kirk felt a brief pang of anxiety despite knowing perfectly well that the ship would be well maintained in orbit by other members of his crew.

Predictably, the good doctor's voice was the first to ring out, before his legs finished materialising.

"I hope you didn't call us down here for a picnic, Jim," he grumbled, holding out a spare black undershirt as well as a gold uniform.

"Aye," Scotty nodded, beaming, "'cos I dinnae get a chance to grab that scotch yet."

"Ah — yeah, no," Kirk said, the brief moment of anxiousness melting into that of pride, "It's something you have to see for yourselves."

He waved them towards the wall and demonstrated the fact that their hands fit snugly within the carved prints with Spock, watching the prints glow together this time, and the feeling of warmth multiplied significantly in his arm. For a split second a strange picture flashed across his mind — Spock was looking up at him, hair mussed and cheeks flushed with green, eyes intent and beseeching, mouthing something he could not quite catch — before it disappeared, leaving him frowning as he studied the fading glow on the wall, his fingers still tingling. However, the feeling faded as he stepped away from the wall, and Kirk mentally shelved the thought for reevaluation later.

He looked around; the rest of the bridge crew were enthralled by this strange turn of events and paid no attention to him. Deciding that he had better change before McCoy would stick him with another hypo in the name of preventing the common cold, Kirk quickly stripped in a corner with his back to the crew, fumbling with his undershirt in the dim light, trying to determine which way is front.

A towel suddenly appeared before him and Kirk started, realising that it was Spock. "Hey," he greeted automatically.

"Captain, I believe the purpose of changing into drier clothing would be served better if you were to dry yourselves first."

Kirk blinked, then grimaced as he felt a stray droplet roll down his back. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Spock."

Impassive eyes regarded him before settling down on the left of his chest, where upon Spock's gaze flickered into something indecipherable and intense. Kirk paused in his towelling abruptly and felt all of a sudden extremely self-conscious.

"Er — Spock," he began, trying for the nonchalant while feeling decidedly weirded out, "Not that I don't, you know, but could you not ogle my —" he lowered his voice conspiratorially, "— nipples — while the crew is standing just a few feet away?"

Kirk gave a most dazzling grin while Spock seemingly started (with his eyebrow, of course), then hurriedly looked away. There appeared to be a tinge of green to Spock's cheek, which Kirk took great delight to.

"My apologies, Captain," Spock said tersely.

"Jim," Kirk said absentmindedly. "Relax, Spock. I'm just messing with ya."

"Captain, you misunderstand," Spock said, ignoring the informal request for the first name. "I — "

"Yes?" Kirk said, smoothing down the front of his undershirt. Almost on cue, Spock picked up his command uniform and handed it to him.

"It is most illogical," Spock murmured. "Yet when I pressed my hand into the wall for the second time, I was presented with a foreign image in my mind —"

"Wait, you too?" Kirk paused, half startled, "What did you see?"

Spock's gaze flicked over the thin expand of Kirk's waist, riding up just visible above the belt, before hurriedly turned away. "A most distressing image," he said softly.

"Huh," Kirk said absently. He contemplated whether what he saw could be described as distressing — after all, Spock looked slightly orgasmic in the picture that entered his mind, not that he knew anything about Vulcan orgasms at all — but no, he decided, he didn't find it distressing. Intriguing, in fact. "Can't say the same about mine," he said casually, in the end. "Guess to each his own, huh?"

Spock lifted an eyebrow and said nothing, though he appeared somewhat placated by this response. Kirk squared out his shoulders and smoothed down his uniform one last time, turning to meet his bridge crew, still studying the wall.

"I think we all know what we need to do here," Kirk announced.

A murmured round of understanding and agreement, while McCoy grumbled, "Dammit, I'm a doctor, not an explorer."

"You are, however, signed on for an exploratory mission of Starfleet," Spock supplied helpfully.

"Just you wait until the ground swallows us up you green blooded —"

"Alright, children!" Kirk piped up, collecting amused glances from his crew, "Find your hole in the wall. On my count. Three. Two. One."

The ground opened up and swallowed them.