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A flagship. A goddamn flagship of all the damn things. What even?
Jim was still reeling from the shock of it as he sat in the Captain’s chair on the bridge, Spock on the other side of the room at his First Officers station, and Bones standing behind him with a little smile as they watched Lt Sulu push the Enterprise into hyperspace.
He still isn’t fully sure that he actually deserves the position of Captain. Yeah, he’s a bit more calm nowadays, and he graduated in the top percent of his track, but he’s pretty sure this is all one big nepotism scam run by the admiralty to try and turn Starfleet into a family business somehow. It’s weird.
“You look nervous, Jim.”
Jim looked back at Leonard with a cocked head at the quiet words. Not even Spock looked up from his station at them, and he was a vulcan for crying out loud, Spock always seemed to know when something was wrong. Jim shrugged, turning to looked back at the viewscreen. “I’m still not fully sure this is all real, to be honest.”
The look Leonard gave him was utterly fond, and Jim could feel it like heat on his face even though he wasn’t looking. The doctor leaned in and put a hand on Jim’s shoulder, pressing a short dry kiss to Jim’s soft hair while no one was looking, and straightened back up. “You’ll work past that, kid, don’t you worry.”
He left without any further prodding, knowing that Jim would at least like to get a chance to calm himself down before he was worked up enough to need Leonard to do it for him. He was getting better at that too, he rarely needed to be little nowadays, it was amazing. Being little was more of a hobby than a therapy now, and he was happy for it.
For the first time in his life since he was a kid, he honestly felt stable .
It was good.
***
Jimmy waited until he knew that Leonard and Spock would be asleep before he snuck into their cabin. Well, that’s not fully true, Jim had fallen asleep a while ago, restless, but then he woke up and he felt restless and bouncy and a little cold. So he put on the footie pajamas that Spock had gotten him while they were still on Earth as a congratulatory present for getting the Enterprise. Jimmy had always loved the Enterprise.
Jimmy bounced a little with his stuffed kitty in his arms as he looked out the viewscreen in his room. They were still in hyperspace and it was really pretty outside. He’d gotten the stuffed kitty from Daddy before they had shipped out. Momma had gotten him a blankie, and it was on his bed and he loved it lots and lots. It was soft and made for snuggling.
He was anxious though, and he didn’t know why. He’d tried going back to sleep -because Leonard says that good boys need a full night’s sleep before their shift- but it had been hard, and so he was playing with his kitty now. Maybe Spock and Bones think it’s okay not to sleep if his brain doesn’t want to? He’s still a good boy, right? Right.
But still, he was yawning, and that anxiety swirled into a little pit in his stomach, telling him that he was going to get in trouble if he was little when he needed to go on shift later, and they’d take away his ship for being unprofessional.
He decided he needed adult help for that, because he wasn’t sure what to do.
Spock and Leonard were still sleeping when Jimmy came into their room through the connecting bathroom, and Jimmy paused to just watch them for a minute before he came over to climb into the bed with them. Spock woke up right away, but Leonard just grumbled a little, shifting into a more comfortable spot with Jimmy tucked into his chest while Spock watched them with a raised eyebrow.
“Is there something wrong with your quarters, Jimmy?”
Jimmy nodded, looking a little sorrowful even. “Yeah.”
“And that would be?”
“You guys weren’t in it.”
See, Leonard and Jim had this way of doing things that no other humans could properly achieve. Spock felt a warmth in his chest that was entirely illogical and had made him wonder if he was dying the first time it had happened. Right now though, he promptly ignored the the warmth and let the little snuggle down in between them, yawning and already slipping back to sleep. It was only logical that they all go back to sleep now.
***
It was no secret that Spock and Leonard differed just a little when it came to Jimmy. They had relatively similar parenting styles, and they made a note to never argue in front of Jimmy lest that confuse him or convince him to try and pit them against each other, but they were different.
Leonard liked children big enough to take care of themselves, walk and talk on their own, he liked the rough and tumble play that Jimmy and him got into when he was watching him. Jimmy was probably about three to five when he was with Leonard.
Spock though, seemed to think that no little can be too little for him. He loved Jimmy the littler he got, and was always happy to take care of him, even when Jimmy was small enough to cling.
Of course, they both loved Jimmy no matter what, but their personal opinions on his ages were just that, personal opinions. They loved Jimmy no matter what, but they both connected to him better on different levels.
Right now was Beta shift, which means that the three of them were off duty now, but Leonard was still in surgery and Nurse Chapel says he won’t be out for another hour.
Jimmy sighed, curling up in a little ball on Leonard and Spock’s bed. His bed was the same size as theirs, but Jimmy’s bed was covered in stuffies and blankies and Spock and Leonard both had a big boy bed. Jimmy found it fascinating. His bed was all colourful and good for bouncing on, but he’s pretty sure Spock and Leonard’s bed isn’t good for bouncing on because they scold him when he does and say it’s a no no, so their bed is for adults.
Their entire room looked like a big boy room, Jimmy’s was nothing like that.
Spock came into the room through the connected bathroom with a onsie and Jimmy’s stuffed kitty. Jimmy grinned and latched onto the kitty when Spock handed her over, snuggling into her belly while Spock started helping him out of his clothes. They were going to stay in for the night and Jimmy would get to be little all night as long as there were no emergencies.
Nowadays, with Jimmy being little because he wanted to and not needed to, they tried to make at least one night a week for Jimmy to come out and play like he wanted to, and that night was tonight. Jimmy was a little sad that Bones was late, but that also meant that Spock was probably going to tempt him into the lower range of his little side because Spock likes picking him up and cuddling him and Leonard isn’t here to tempt Jimmy with rough housing and big boy toys.
Jimmy is okay with that, for some reason, he’s feeling a little shy today.
Leonard grew up in Georgia, and Spock on Vulcan, so their quarters were always super duper hot and Jimmy was already feeling a little flushed at the heat right now, so he let Spock get him undressed without a fuss. Spock was really gentle and when his skin touched Jimmy’s, Jimmy felt Spock’s mind brushing up against his, and it made his brain as warm as his body and he felt all happy inside and it made him smile up at Spock a little dazedly.
He liked feeling Spock’s mind, it was comfortable. Bones said Spock’s mind was comfortable too, but he also said he’s only felt it when Spock melded with him, so that’s weird. When the fleet issued standard psi tests to the students though, Jim was rated rather high, so they think it’s because of that.
Spock seemed just as pleased as Jimmy to have their minds up against each other, but didn’t linger any, using gentle touches to get Jimmy to put the stuffie down on the bed and lift his arms so Spock could help him out of his command uniform. He smiled at the little when Jimmy was finally freed from the confining cloth, but frowned when he saw Jimmy’s chest.
“You are quite flushed, pi’veh, it would be best if you were left undressed for the time being.”
Jimmy looked down at his chest with a frown, seeing that he was quite red. He nodded, poking at the edge of the flush for a second to check for swelling to make sure it wasn’t an allergic reaction instead of the heat, but let Spock lift up his hips and pull the pants off to the floor.
As a general rule, Starfleet ships were actually kept quite warm, since most crew members wore one layer of covering, as well as the fact that all uniforms had the options of short sleeves, but Spock and Leonard’s room was even warmer than that, and Spock contemplated turning down the heat in the room before Jimmy stopped him, sensing the general direction of Spock’s thoughts.
“I’m fine, I just need to cool down a little and then I can put clothes on, my body doesn’t always regulate temperature easily. It’ll fix itself if we give it time.”
Spock looked down at him and gave a slow blink of his eyes while making eye contact. Jimmy giggled a little. Vulcans were descended from cats, just like humans were from apes, and as such, they still had a lot of throw back to their ancestors. Jimmy liked it when Spock gave him and Bones slow blinks, because that’s kitty talk for kisses, and Jimmy loves that.
He eagerly reached up for Spock when the vulcan got off the bed making grabby hands for him. “Up, please.”
Spock smiled at him, just barely. “Have you become incapable of walking?”
Jimmy giggled again, still making grabby hands. “Yes. Hasta carry me, my Spock.”
Vulcans were stronger than humans. At first, that had been a little scary cause Jimmy used to be really shy around Spock and Bones, but now it was the bestest thing in the whole universe. Spock gathered the little up in his arms, getting Jimmy positioned comfortably on his hip like many terran children often found comfortable. Jimmy sighed happily, clinging to Spock’s neck with his arms and laying his head on Spock’s shoulder.
It left a lot of skin to skin contact that Jimmy would have been really uncomfortable with six years ago when they first met, but now it was warm and soft and comfy in both his head and body and he wanted snuggles and playtime.
He gave a little sigh when Spock handed him his soft kitty and snuggled into him further. “My Spock, when does my Bones come home?”
Spock was momentarily startled when he heard the question. How do humans reply to imprecise measurements of time when relating to children? If he said soon, Jimmy would keep asking, and if he gave him a specific time, and Bones wasn’t there by that time, he risked Jimmy’s scorn with one or both of them, possibly even a tantrum. He decided to be as accurate as possible.
“An appendectomy is a relatively routine and quick procedure, barring any sort of complication that may occur, Lt Hamson is in good health otherwise and should be out of surgery within the hour. Afterwards, I predict a seventy eight point two five percent chance that Leonard will take anywhere between five to ten minutes of time to conduct follow up procedure and-” His words came to a halt when he caught sight of the intense pout on Jimmy’s face.
“‘S not soon, is it, my Spock?”
“...no.”
Jimmy sighed, snuggling into him anyways as they went to the small living quarters where Spock proceeded to take two whole minutes attempting to dislodge the little from his side to put him on his play blankie with his toys. Jimmy was not having it, he was going to cling until his Bones came home, as it turned out.
Spock sighed and rubbed the fussing boy’s back soothingly as he walked over to the replicator instead, ordering Jimmy a sippy cup of juice and them an early dinner of pasta, which he was then forced to hand feed to the now cranky little boy who refused to leave his lap while they ate.
Spock loves his fussy baby boy, really, he’s just the sweetest little thing in the universe, and Spock has even felt the urge to, as terrans say, ‘pinch his cute cheeks’ on one occasion, but Spock has grown used to Leonard’s company when Jimmy was in a fussy mood.
There was another big difference between Spock and Bones that Jimmy never told them about, because he didn’t want them to think that he was upset with their own personalities of all things, but Spock was very quiet compared to Bones, who tended to hum at him and coo and ramble on about things while he was watching Jimmy, but Spock tended to be very quiet compared to that.
Of course, Jim loved being able to spend time with Spock quietly, they rarely actually needed the words between them -not like him and Bones who pretty much communicated entirely by snark- but Jimmy sometimes got underwhelmed by the quiet and it wasn’t okay.
Well, Jimmy could also get overwhelmed by noise, but quiet was just so… quiet…
Jimmy hummed a little, rocking back and forth between his knees as he sat on the play blankie with his toys. These were his extra little toys, because Spock doesn’t trust him with big boy toys like crayons and legos because he puts things in his mouth, and Jimmy thinks that’s really rude of him, but whatever. Spock was sitting on the couch behind him doing paperwork because Jimmy is pretty sure he doesn’t know how to relax like humans, but he seemed relaxed, so Jimmy wasn’t gonna fuss at him about it.
His humming came to a stop when the speakers set into the coffee table -next to the holo projector- came on and music started coming out of them. Jimmy looked back at Spock with big eyes, wondering why Spock was turning on the speakers, but Spock had somehow gotten off the couch without Jimmy seeing him and he let out a little yelp and fell backwards in surprise.
Spock gently helped him sit back up, crouching next to the nervous looking little. Jimmy’s anxiety comes back sometimes when he’s little, and it seems, today isn’t the best of days. It doesn’t help that Leonard isn’t going to be back for another fifteen minutes. He just got out of surgery and was going to do follow up and the paperwork for the surgery.
“I believe quiet time is needed right now, would you like to listen to your lullaby playlist?”
Quiet time meant he wasn’t allowed to get off his blankie and run around, but Jimmy wasn’t really planning on doing that anyways, and he still had all his toys, so he nodded, and the volume on the music went up a little and Spock went back to the couch. Jimmy was happy about that, Spock may not be very chatty if you didn’t ask him to, but he knew that Jimmy needed the stimulus.
Jimmy sighed, flopping back against his soft blankie with a sigh. Before Jimmy got playtime, Spock made him get dressed in his onsie, so he was nice and snuggly and warm, and now there was music, and he was maybe yawning a little, and wow, did you know how hard it is to keep you eyes open? Jimmy’s having a tough time keeping them open, maybe it’s time for resting them?
When Jimmy finally decided to stop resting his eyes -because it was not a nap and Jimmy will fight you on that- he could hear voices coming from the couch, and there was something in his mouth? Oh, that’s his favorite paci! That’s nice, Jimmy had been thinking about wanting that before he rested his eyes, but his mouth was heavy too and he wasn’t sure how to ask Spock for it other than telepathy, and that involves physical contact and that means moving so he was touching Spock, and that also seemed really hard, but it’s okay now, because now he has his paci and his eyes felt rested, and there was lullaby music and also voices? That’s nice.
“Hey there, baby boy, you awake now?”
Jimmy sat up with messy hair, and sucked on his paci for a few more seconds before pulling it out and promptly telling Leonard with a glare - well a pout really, “is is, is not asleep , my Bones, was resting eyes .”
Leonard looked so damn fond when he smiled down at him, holding out his arms for Jimmy to come snuggle with them on the couch. Jimmy smiled, getting up onto the couch between his two favoritest people in the whole wide universe, and snuggling up into them like he owned the space. And he did, really. “Of course you weren’t sleeping, Jimmy’s don’t sleep, how could I forget that?”
Jimmy sighed, snuggling into Leonard’s neck as he put his paci back in and gave it a few languid sucks. Spock was rubbing his back comfortably and Leonard was giving him kisses in his hair and also snuggles which were the best. “You is silly, my Bones.”
“I know, baby, I really am.”
“But you came home to snuggle me, so it’s okay.”
It didn’t take telepathy -through skin contact or not- to know that the three of them were utterly content right now.