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Not a single starbase rivals Yorktown. Most are what Leonard can best describe as average, though upon arrival at Starbase 17 and the room that he will be staying in for the next three nights, it is immediately apparent that Starbase 17 is far, far, far below average.
His lodgings are… Well, he’s spent more than his fair share of time in shitty roadside motels, and the familiarities are astounding. Old wallpaper, spongy carpet that squishes under his feet, a bathroom door that doesn’t close all the way: all this is familiar in a way that he can’t say he missed but he certainly finds amusing.
The amusement fades pretty quick when he drops himself on the bed to test it out. The mattress is harder than it looks and he curses loudly as pain shoots up his tailbone. “Ow,” he grunts. “That was stupid.”
He’s still waiting for the pain to recede when there’s a knock on the door.
Leonard staggers forward, one hand pressing firmly into the muscles of his lower back as he crosses the small room. He wonders if he’s already earned himself a complaint from one of the neighbors; that cry of pain was pretty loud.
It’s no surprise to Leonard that the doors aren’t automatic here. He pulls the door open, preparing his best apology to whoever he’s managed to piss off already.
“For Christ’s sake,” Leonard mutters.
It’s Spock. Of course it’s Spock.
Spock doesn’t look thrilled to be there either. He grimaces, glancing over Leonard’s shoulder into his room before looking back at Leonard. “I have a favor to ask you.”
Leonard studies Spock. He notes Spock’s posture, the bag slung over his shoulder, the general air of exhaustion following him like a dark cloud. Leonard scoffs, leaning against the doorframe. “You can’t be serious.”
“I wouldn’t ask unless it was necessary, Doctor.”
“I thought you had your own room! In fact, Jim himself made sure that we all had places to stay after the mess of last shore leave!”
Leonard had his own room for that leave too, but of course it became his problem when half the crew revealed they had been too late to reserve a room, and with a farming conference happening at the same time, there weren’t any open rooms left. Ensigns slept on his floor and curled up on his spare bed and made his life a living hell for two days straight. Chapel and Rand ended up in the bathtub together at some point. He chose not to ask them any questions.
Spock sets his bag at his feet. “I had a room. It was not acceptable. That is why I am here, asking that you allow me to stay with you. It is only for three nights,” Spock adds, as if that makes his request any more reasonable.
“You—seriously? You chose to stay with me? I mean, look around, Spock. Step outside! This isn’t exactly the Ritz.”
“My previous accommodations were worse,” Spock replies flatly. “Believe me, Leonard, my first choice was not to stay with you. Of the four establishments I visited to inquire about their rooms, yours is—”
“—the least sketchy?” Spock nods. Leonard snorts. “I’m sure Jim’s staying somewhere much nicer, Spock. Why not bother him?”
The corner of Spock’s lip twitches. “He made it clear he has plans that involve having a room to himself.”
“Right. And you assumed I wouldn’t have similar plans.”
“Correct.”
Leonard narrows his eyes. “You’re a real bastard, you know that?”
“Technically—”
“Just come inside before I chase you off my porch,” Leonard says, stepping back inside. “You’re lucky I’m feeling nice today.”
Spock raises one of his brows but stays otherwise silent, picking up his bag. As the door falls shut, he surveys the room. He sticks his head into the bathroom and pulls back the shower curtain, then sets his things down on a bedside table before he tests the mattress far more delicately than Leonard had.
“This will be sufficient.”
“A glowing endorsement,” Leonard says dryly.
“My wording was deliberate.” Spock turns his eyes down to the bed, then looks back up at Leonard. “Have you already picked a side to sleep on? I do not wish to overstep.”
“What, you mean no more than you already have? I’ll take the side closest to the wall. Is there space in here for you to—meditate, or whatever?”
Spock quickly scans the room, then nods. “We will need to push the table into the corner.”
The table is heavier than it looks, and by the time Leonard has shoved it aside, he’s become deeply annoyed with Spock’s presence. He drops himself into a chair at the table, staring flatly at Spock. “I’m going to want to go to bed soon. So, you know. Don’t expect me to want to go out with you.”
“I have no plans to leave again this evening,” Spock says. He digs through his bag and pulls out his PADD. “I have reading to do.”
Leonard watches as Spock proceeds to step out of his shoes, readying himself for bed as if Leonard isn’t there. Spock makes no further comment, and with a sigh, Leonard pulls off his uniform shirt and steps out of his pants, dropping them on the floor. He then turns off the overhead light and crosses the room, crawling into bed in just his boxers and undershirt.
He drops his face into his pillow, then turns his head to the side. “Bathroom door doesn’t shut right, by the way. Sorry.”
If Spock cares he doesn’t respond, and Leonard flips himself over onto his other side.
He’s too exhausted to care about Spock sitting next to him, legs folded up underneath himself with his PADD on his lap. He is curious about what Spock is reading, but that curiosity doesn’t beat out his fatigue. He’s asleep before he can ask.
- - -
Leonard wakes once in the middle of the night, confused about where he is—and who he is with. He’s so used to sleeping alone, so used to his twin bed on the Enterprise, and when he wakes curled around another person, his arm drawing them close against him, he thinks first of Jocelyn.
He shuffles closer, inhales—
It’s not a scent he remembers. He lifts his head, staring down at his bed partner, and in the dark room he can just barely make out the curve of a Vulcan ear.
Oh god.
Face burning, Leonard extricates himself from Spock as carefully as possible. By the time he’s removed himself from Spock, his heart is pounding in his chest. He flips over onto his other side, shame coursing through him as he stares at the hideous wallpaper until he eventually falls back asleep.
When he wakes again, Spock is meditating in the spot where the table used to be, so Leonard rises and takes a shower. The water pressure isn’t as bad as he expected, and he takes his time standing under the stream of hot water, being a little wasteful now that he’s in a place where he can do that without feeling too guilty.
Once he’s dressed, he steps out to find that Spock has finished meditating and has dressed as well. His casual wear is… not really casual. He’s dressed in all black, and he wears a long-sleeved shirt despite the warm weather.
Spock looks Leonard over, and then they lock eyes.
For one long, painful moment, Leonard thinks Spock is going to bring up last night. He’s sure Spock noticed him clinging to him like a koala.
Instead, Spock says, “You are wearing shorts.”
“It’s eighty degrees out there, Spock. Of course I’m wearing shorts. They’re comfortable.”
Spock does not comment further, which is good, since Leonard doesn’t have the patience to argue about his fashion choices before coffee.
They avoid the breakfast spread offered by the motel and instead walk five blocks north to eat at a diner recommended by a book of local places they found in the motel room. It’s not the cleanest looking establishment, but the coffee tastes fine, and Spock is able to order something for himself that he can eat, so Leonard figures by all accounts that this was a win.
As they walk back from breakfast, Leonard inquires about Spock’s plans for the day.
Spock hesitates. “Before I interrupted your leave, my original plans were to stay in my room. Starbase 17 has little that interests me. I do not know your plans, but if you will have me—”
“Spock,” Leonard groans. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. First you have me open up my room to you and now you want to tag along with me the whole time? I’m not doing anything interesting. I can’t possibly see a reason you would want to join me.”
Spock tilts his head to the side. “I enjoy spending time with you, Leonard. I thought that was obvious.”
Leonard stares Spock down, waiting for the punchline, but Spock only blinks back at him.
“Okay, fine,” Leonard scoffs. “I was gonna go check out the pool next, if that interests you.”
Spock moves his hands in a gesture Leonard knows to mean lead the way.
The thing is, Leonard enjoys spending time with Spock, too. He’s just kind of scared to admit it.
Things haven’t been the same since they were stuck together on Altamid. That isn’t a bad thing—for the most part, these changes have been good—but Leonard’s struggling to put a name to how their friendship has evolved. They enjoy each other’s company. Leonard misses Spock when he isn’t around. But Leonard won’t let himself think any deeper about that.
He doesn’t want to get his hopes up. He doesn’t want to hurt himself or anyone else again.
They approach the pool. Leonard could tell as they got close that it was too busy to use right now, but as they reach the gate and peer in, it’s clear that there are no empty deck chairs left either. The pool itself is crammed full of children playing some sort of game, and as they linger outside of the gate it becomes increasingly evident that, even if there were open chairs, he and Spock wouldn’t be able to relax and read with all this noise.
Leonard steps back from the gate and sighs. “Maybe we could check out the gym?”
The gym isn’t any better, although Leonard didn’t expect it to be. There’s two treadmills, both broken. An elliptical, also broken. An exercise bike that produced a weird burning smell the moment he started pedaling, so he jumped off that almost immediately. There’s also a rack of dumbbells, but a bunch are missing.
Leonard sags against a wall, groaning. “God, this place is a dump.”
“Agreed.”
“Any ideas for what we could do?”
“We could…” Spock trails off. “Return to the room?”
Leonard snorts. “And do what? Watch some television and order in lunch?”
“I have a book I brought along to read,” Spock replies in the way of an answer, and Leonard huffs.
Great. Their first shore leave in months and they’re gonna spend it locked away in a gross motel room. If Leonard wanted to spend shore leave in a cramped room, he would have just stayed in his quarters back on the ship.
“I don’t see any good alternative,” Leonard says, walking out of the gym. “Unless you want to go get hammered at a nightclub.”
The alarmed look Spock sends him in response makes Leonard erupt into a fit of laughter.
“I’m kidding, Spock. Let’s go back to the room.”
Leonard stretches out on the bed once they’re back in the room as Spock settles into one of the chairs at the table in the corner. Leonard turns on the first movie he finds, some old western, and it captures Spock’s attention for maybe five minutes before he stands abruptly and announces that he is going to take a shower.
Spock prefers sonic showers, but clearly a water shower is better than a boring old movie.
Either Spock takes a short shower or Leonard manages to doze off in the middle of it because he startles to the bathroom door opening once more as Spock steps back into the main room. He’s got his pants on but is shirtless, skin damp and flushed from the hot water with the towel around his shoulders. Leonard can see a droplet of water drip from Spock’s hair to his shoulder, then down through the forest of hair on Spock’s chest.
Leonard looks away before Spock can catch him, his cheeks burning. He keeps his eyes glued to the screen, scared that he’ll make a fool of himself if he looks at Spock again.
He must be doing a little too good of a job staring at the movie, though. Spock sits down on the bed next to him and asks, “What did I miss?” and all Leonard can do is shrug. Out of the corner of his eye he can see that Spock still hasn’t put on a shirt.
“Do you want to order something now?” he asks, taking the question as an excuse to reach for the book of local restaurants. “You, uh, may want to put your shirt on. For when our food gets delivered.”
He risks a glance back at Spock; Spock watches him for a beat before nodding.
Leonard breathes a sigh of relief as Spock pulls on his shirt. He doesn’t think he would have been able to focus on picking something to order with Spock so close to him like that.
Leonard stares down at the book in his lap and tells himself to not think about that any deeper.
- - -
That night, Leonard stares up at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep.
He’d thought he’d be able to fall asleep easily if Spock was meditating instead of in bed with him, but somehow it’s worse. He knows, rationally, that Spock is not watching him sleep, but having someone sit on the floor across the room facing him is giving him the heebie-jeebies.
Though Leonard does suppose he is touched that Spock trusts him like this. He’s pretty sure Vulcans wouldn’t meditate around just anybody.
Leonard doesn’t realize he’s fallen asleep until he jolts awake hours later as the mattress dips underneath Spock’s weight.
“My apologies, Leonard,” Spock says, pulling back the sheets and sliding in underneath them. “Go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Leonard does as Spock asks, flipping onto his other side and—
And Spock curls up around him.
“Spock?” Leonard says softly, something warm twisting in his chest.
“Sleep, Leonard,” Spock replies.
Leonard doesn’t think he’ll be able to fall back asleep with Spock spooning him. His heart is racing in his chest at the feeling of Spock’s warm breath against his neck, and his brain is trying desperately to fight against the fogginess of sleep to make sense of what this means.
But Spock’s body is warm, and it feels so good to be held like this. Ultimately, sleep returns to Leonard easily.
In the morning, Leonard rises before Spock, though he’s sure that Spock is awake. He takes a long shower and thinks about Spock spooning him, but his brain can’t make any more sense of last night even now that he’s awake. Maybe Spock was cold. Or maybe Leonard was hogging the bed and that was the only way that Spock could fit.
Or maybe he thought that was what Leonard wanted.
Leonard grimaces. He wouldn’t want Spock to feel forced to do something like that. He’ll have to talk to him before they go to bed tonight and make it clear that he doesn’t expect Spock to hold him.
Spock joins Leonard in the bathroom once they’re both dressed to brush their teeth. It’s a boring affair, bordering on amusing, and Leonard keeps his eyes away from the mirror so he won’t laugh and spit toothpaste everywhere over how meticulous Spock is with his dental hygiene.
Leonard rinses his brush off in the sink. “Still glad you chose to spend your shore leave with me?” he jokes. Leonard thinks he could list a thousand things more entertaining than running through his morning routine with another man.
Of course, since Spock is Spock, he gives Leonard’s question serious consideration.
“Seeing as the alternative would have been to spend my time with the captain or return to the Enterprise, yes. As I said yesterday Leonard, I enjoy your company.”
“Oh, come on,” Leonard huffs. “This is boring! No matter how much you might like spending time with me, you can’t possibly be having fun right now.”
“‘Having fun’ is irrelevant and also is not my goal for this shore leave. The purpose is to relax and reduce stress, which you may note I have done quite successfully.”
Leonard can’t argue with that, but it takes some effort to resist making fun of Spock for not wanting to have any fun while on vacation.
“Well, we’ve got the entire day,’ Leonard says, “and I’m going to lose my mind if we spend any more time doing nothing in this motel. What do you say we go for a walk?”
Spock agrees, and once their shoes are on, they start on their walk. Starbase 17 isn’t a complete bust—there is a walking path that, if they were so inclined, could take them through the entire starbase—but Leonard worries they’ll get lost, and he knows from experience that there are few things worse in the universe than getting lost with Spock. Spock, of course, believes that with such good signage that it would be impossible to get lost, so the first half of their walk is spent debating that issue.
But somehow the topic moves on, and it’s only when Leonard is in the middle of a story about sailing with his great grandfather that he realizes that Spock has been silent for a long time, listening.
“Sorry, am I boring you?” Leonard asks, stopping in his tracks. They’re walking past a row of silver office buildings that aren’t the most visually stimulating. “I can talk about something else.”
Spock’s brow furrows. “No, Leonard. I am interested in your story.”
“Oh.” Leonard hesitates. “You’re not just being polite, are you?”
Spock looks at him pointedly, and Leonard laughs.
“All right, yeah, you’re right. You’ve never been one to suffer through something because you felt you had to. You’d’ve said something.”
“Please, finish your story.”
So, Leonard does. Spock’s eyes remain on him, and the entire time Leonard has this sort of light, weightless feeling in his chest, like he’s about to start laughing at any moment. Sometimes it’s like this between him and Spock. When it’s going this good, Leonard feels weird. Touched, maybe. Appreciative. And something else, something he’s hesitant to put a name to.
“I only went sailing once,” Spock says after Leonard’s finished his story, and Leonard stares, surprised. Spock adds quickly, “It was with my mother’s family, on a trip to Earth when I was a child. She felt it was important that I spent some time with my cousins on her side of the family.”
“And how was that for you?”
Spock grimaces. “I fell overboard. I am not the strongest swimmer now and I was a worse swimmer then. I have avoided sailing ever since, minus the situations in Starfleet and at the Academy that have required it. I do not voluntarily go on boats.”
“Good thing I didn’t plan to rent one out today then, huh?” Leonard chuckles.
It’s quiet for a beat as they walk. When Spock speaks again, his voice is soft. “I would have made an exception.”
Rendered mute by this admission, Leonard’s cheeks burn. He clears his throat and turns his gaze to the path, nodding towards the signage ahead. “We should think about turning back soon,” he says, too cowardly to stop himself from changing the subject.
Spock nods.
Later, once they’ve returned to their room and showered, they decide to have an early dinner. The restaurant they found has mixed reviews and seems a little too fancy for what they’re looking for, but it offers vegetarian options so they decide on that one. It’s busy; they end up at a small table in the corner, the table tiny enough that their knees touch underneath it. It’s so loud inside that Leonard has to lean in to hear Spock talk, and he wonders if it looks like they’re spies, exchanging information in secret.
The thought amuses him, but before he can point out how they look to Spock, a waiter approaches them.
“Evening! You lovebirds here for anything special? Honeymoon? Anniversary?”
Leonard freezes. His eyes snap over to lock with Spock’s, who looks equally startled by the question.
Laughing awkwardly, Leonard says, “Ah, no. And god, who’d honeymoon here?”
Offense flashes across the waiter’s expression, and realizing his mistake, Leonard quickly adds, “Ah, just kidding. Beautiful starbase you’ve got here. This restaurant looks just—just lovely. Wouldn’t you agree, Spock?”
“The menu has many offerings suitable to my needs,” Spock replies, and Leonard swallows back a curse.
“Ah, you know how Vulcans are,” he says to the waiter, and the waiter nods, his lips thinning in displeasure.
The waiter is quick to take their orders. “Enjoy your date, gentlemen,” he says, then leaves them to themselves.
Leonard sighs, leaning back in his seat.
“You did not correct him the second time,” Spock says.
“He was already leaving,” Leonard says, but it’s a poor excuse. Why didn’t he make it more clear that they weren’t together?
“I see,” Spock replies, in that preoccupied way that tells Leonard that Spock is thinking. It makes Leonard’s stomach twist anxiously, and he distracts himself by taking a long sip from his glass.
The food is mediocre, but it arrives quickly, and for that Leonard is relieved. If Spock has strong feelings about his dish he does not comment on it, though Leonard isn’t able to stop himself from complaining about the blandness of his chicken, on par with the usual garbage from a replicator.
The waiter comes by towards the end of their meal. Leonard expects their bill, but instead the man drops off what looks like a chocolate-covered tart.
“Free,” he says dryly, “for the happy couple.”
Leonard squawks, but his noises don’t manage to stop the waiter from walking away. Spock eyes the whole exchange curiously.
“Fascinating. Do couples often receive desserts for free?”
Leonard’s sure he’s blushing. “Sometimes. Though this one felt kind of pointed.”
Leonard picks up his spoon, parting the tart down the middle. It’s as he’s starting to push half of it towards Spock that he stills. “Oh. It’s chocolate. Sorry, Spock.”
Spock, to Leonard’s surprise, picks up his own spoon. “Do not apologize. We are on shore leave. As I have no duties to attend to, I will partake in this dessert.”
Spock breaks off a large spoonful and brings it to his mouth. Leonard stares as he swallows it down.
“Jim’s going to be so jealous when he hears that I got to see you get drunk.”
“You will tell him no such thing,” Spock replies, but he doesn’t seem that bothered by Leonard’s comment, going in for another bite.
Leonard snorts, batting at Spock’s hand. “The waiter said it’s for the couple, Spock. We’re sharing.”
Spock obliges.
- - -
Spock didn’t get drunk, though he seemed tipsy as they left the restaurant. More than once Leonard caught him smiling on their walk back to the motel, and man if that didn’t make Leonard’s heart race a little with conflicting feelings of apprehension and affection.
They’re sitting in deck chairs by the pool now that it’s finally empty. Leonard had suggested they sit and read, but even now that Spock has sobered up, neither of them are finding much success in focusing on their PADDs. Spock has, for some reason, moved his deck chair close to Leonard’s. Maybe he doesn’t want their conversation to get too loud; it is late and there are rooms nearby.
“I have an article to show you,” Spock says at one point during a conversation about Spock’s recent research. He sets aside the PADD on his lap and stands. “I will get the other PADD from our room.”
He has always walked at a fast pace, but he moves quickly now, clearly excited about the paper he wants to show Leonard. He turns around a corner of the pool heading towards the gate.
But Spock takes the turn too fast. Spock slips on the wet concrete, stumbling, and Leonard’s stomach drops as he watches Spock fall into the pool.
Spock is not a strong swimmer.
Leonard stands before he can think, doesn’t even stop to strip out of his clothes before he steps up to the edge and dives in.
It’s a mess trying to pull Spock up to the water’s surface, but it only takes seconds for both of their heads to be above the water. Leonard’s heart is racing with adrenaline and he gasps in air, his hands on Spock’s shoulders and face as he makes sure that Spock’s breathing.
“You’re okay, right? Are you okay, Spock? Can you breathe? Can you—”
“Leonard, please,” Spock replies firmly, a little too put together for a guy who took a surprise swim. “I am not harmed. I was startled but would have been all right. I can swim.”
“You said—”
“Leonard, you know that Starfleet officers are required to learn to swim if they do not already know how at the Academy. I am not a strong swimmer but that doesn’t mean I do not know what I am doing.”
“Right. I knew that,” Leonard replies. He’s embarrassed, but as he stares at Spock, wet bangs plastered to his forehead and shirt clinging to his chest, Leonard can’t help but realize the humor in this situation. He erupts into a fit of laughter.
He can’t stop. He almost swallows a mouthful of pool water as he bends forward in his laughter, but Spock rights him, his hands lingering on Leonard’s face, and woah is he a lot closer than Leonard thought.
“Spock—?” Leonard starts, but then Spock is kissing him.
Leonard freezes. It takes a few seconds for him to react, parting his lips and leaning in closer to kiss Spock back. But how is this even happening right now? There weren’t any signs that Spock wanted this. Sure, they just split that dessert, and yes, Spock kept reminding him that he liked his company, but—
Leonard stops himself in the middle of that thought.
Suddenly the last few days make a hell of a lot more sense.
Leonard pulls back, breaking the kiss. “Now hang on, Spock! This was all a trick, wasn’t it? You just wanted a reason to be alone with me! Hell, I bet your original room wasn’t even that bad!”
“Oh, it was,” Spock says. He hasn’t pulled away, and his brown eyes keep dropping to look at Leonard’s lips in a way that makes Leonard feel very warm. “But a new room at the captain’s hotel opened up yesterday. I could have left if I wanted.”
“But you didn’t want to.”
“I had reason to believe that if I continued to spend time alone with you that I would find answers to some questions that had been bothering me.”
“And what questions were those?” Leonard asks.
Spock leans in and kisses him again, this time gentle and quick. “I had to confirm whether or not you felt the way I feel about you.”
“So this whole thing was you testing your theory.” Leonard scoffs and rolls his eyes, but he can’t stop himself from grinning. “Ever the researcher, Mister Spock,” he says, and then they’re kissing once more.
Leonard is happy to continue doing this for a while, but then he hears the gate open. “The pool is closed!” an irritated voice calls out, and Leonard and Spock startle apart, staring sheepishly back at the woman glaring at them.
They’re quick to get out of the pool and gather their things. Unfortunately, their impromptu swim means they’re soaking wet and without towels.
Leonard shivers. “We’ll have to take turns showering once we’re in the room. I’m cold, which means you must be freezing.”
“There is no need to take turns,” Spock replies, setting his gaze on Leonard. “As you suggested with our dessert, I suggest now that we can share.”
Spock following one of my suggestions, Leonard thinks with a grin. How could I possibly say no?
Later, Leonard lies with his head on Spock’s chest, stroking his fingers through the hair there. Spock is warm, and they both seem to be enjoying the comfortable silence, so Leonard doesn’t dare speak.
Maybe this motel isn’t that bad. With Spock holding him like this, it’s hard not to develop a strange fondness for the mediocrity of this base.
Spock shifts, pressing a kiss against the top of Leonard’s head.
All right. Maybe Leonard can think of a reason someone would choose Starbase 17 for their honeymoon after all.