Title: Comfort Food
Characters: Spock, Scotty, bit of kirk
Rating: K
Word Count: 500
Summary/Warnings: My entry for my hc_bingo card spot of Hunger/starvation. So yes, it turned more into crack than comfort, but then chocolate is a comfort food and a diet can be torture, right? XD General spoilers for TOS Kirk's eternal weight battle, nothing more specific.

"Mr. Scott, I am in need of your assistance."

Montgomery Scott knew that particular that-was-an-order-not-a-statement tone of voice by now, and hastily popped up from where he lay below a console in Engineering. "Aye, Mr. Spock?"

"It is a technical matter," Spock clarified, and the CE noticed the tell-tale twitching of an eyebrow indicating what Vulcans refused to call stress, "concerning – Mr. Scott. What 'upgrades,' exactly, are you performing?" he inquired, casting a suspicious eye upon the definitely not-regulation-safe fire-resistant plating being fused together around the warp core's secondary output conduit.

"Err…" The engineer hastily kicked what looked suspiciously like a roll of thick tape under the nearest console. "The captain always accepts an explanation of 'plausible deniability'?"

Dark eyes contracted for a moment, and then the matter was obviously dismissed as low on the First Officer's priority list. "We will speak of this later, Mr. Scott," the Vulcan warned.

"As you like, sir," Scott replied affably. "In the meantime?"

"In the meantime, I wish you to perform a very specific reprogramming to the meal selectors in Officers' Mess."

Scott looked at his superior with understandable wariness (the last time he'd had a request like that, it had been from McCoy who wanted grits and brown sugar, and their resident 'Southern gentleman' had complained about their consistency for weeks). "What sort of reprogramming?"

Typically, Spock did not mince words. "I wish you to program a temporary internal override for the captain's meal card."

Scott blinked, processing this.

It didn't take a technological genius to make the connections.

"The Doctor isn't goin' to be happy about it, you know."

"Dr. McCoy's medical advice regarding the captain's eating habits is quite sound, and I agree with his prescription," Spock answered, unruffled. "However, it has been three weeks since the doctor restricted the captain's diet to nothing but healthful foods."

"And?"

"And if the current state of degeneration continues, I may be forced to relieve the captain of command."

Scott stared, incredulous. Truly? Over a lack of dessert? "Because he's emotionally compromised?"

Spock's expression twisted slightly into one of intense discomfort. "Because he is emotionally compromising the entire Bridge crew," he clarified wryly.

Scott's laughter reverberated off the humming walls of the Engineering section. "A bit cranky, eh?"

"That, Mr. Scott, is a colossal understatement."

Though Spock was obviously more amused than worried by the entire affair, Scott could tell the request was nonetheless genuine, and was being asked out of affection for his captain. "I'll see what I can do," he promised.

"And I shall accept your explanation of 'plausible deniability'."

"Understood."

Later that evening, at Kirk's surprised cackle of glee when the selector spit out a slice of German chocolate cake instead of his vegetable medley, two sets of eyes met across the room, approval and amusement in both.

Granted, they both were forced to avoid Sickbay for a week for their own personal safety, but then again that was the price any crewman paid to serve aboard the Enterprise…