Chapter Text
"There are times, Mr. Spock, when I think I should have been a librarian." -- Captain James T. Kirk
Jim Kirk was up early. He had slept well that night, which didn’t happen often. He showed, got dressed, putting on his favorite light blue panties with the little white lace trim on them. He brushed his teeth, then styled his blonde hair just the way he liked it and left his apartment at 7.02. He walked across the hall and started banging on the apartment door that was across from his.
“BONES! WAKE UP! I WANT PANCAKES!” Jim shouted. He was so happy this morning, he didn’t care if he pissed off any other neighbors. Leonard “Bones” McCoy yanked his door open, hair sticking up all of the place, and glared at his friend, who was smiling sheepishly at him.
“What in Sam Hill is your problem?! It’s seven in the morning!” Bones fussed at him. He then grabbed Jim by the front of his shirt and yanked him into the apartment. “Get ur ass in here before the neighbors start bitchin.”
Jim just laughed and adjusted the front of his shirt. Bones shut his door and walked past him towards the kitchen. Jim followed after him and asked, “So…about those pancakes?” Bones stood in front of his coffee maker and shoot his head.
“I’m not making you pancakes. You are perfectly capable of making ur own damn pancakes in ur own damn apartment that is right across the hall.” Bones said.
“But your pancakes are so much better than mine.” Jim whined, moving so Bones would look at him and see the puppy dog eyes and pout he was sporting. Bones looked at Jim, sighed and thought to himself, I really oughta move. Bones caved and said, “Fine. But ur making me dinner tonight.” Jim jumped for joy and grinned big, nodding his head in agreement.
After the pancakes had been made and Bones and Jim were sitting at the little dining table in the middle of the kitchen, Bones finally asked, “Why are you so chipper this morning?”
“We’re going to receive a few large shipments of books from some rich dead guy’s estate and I get to go through them all and catalog them into the database.” Jim told him with a bright smile on his face. Bones just stared at him and shook his head.
“What?” Jim asked.
“Only you would be so happy to do that kind of work.” Bones replied. “You went to Berkeley and majored in Engineering and Computer Sciences and…
“And minored in English.” Jim interrupted.
“…yeah…ok. Anyway, you could have had a great job at the San Francisco Science and Technology Center but nope, you just had to go work at the library instead.”
“Books are my one true love, Bones. I love my job. I haven’t stopped with the engineering and computer stuff; I still work freelance at Science and Tech Center with Scotty sometimes.” Jim finished, stuffing a couple pieces of pancakes in his mouth. Bone just sighed.
“Whatever, kid. If you love working there, fine, more power to you. I was actually thinking for a minute that you were so happy because that hobgoblin had asked you out or something.”
“The Vulcan? Spock? Why’d he ask me out? Do you know something I don’t? Did Uhura say something? She works with him at the Science and Tech Center, so she’d know if he liked me, right?” Jim had said so quickly that Bones could barely understand what he was saying. Jim was also sporting a nice blush to his cheeks just thinking about the hot Vulcan who was an occasional patron to the library where Jim worked.
“Jeez, kid. Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor not a matchmaker. I don’t talk to Uhura about your nonexistent love life with the Vulcan. And stop blushing.” Bones told him.
“Oh, ok. Yeah, of course you wouldn’t talk to Uhura about him. Or me for that matter.”
“You are really too much to handle this early in the morning.” Bones said grumpily, drinking some of his coffee.
“Wow, Bones, you sure are extra testy this morning. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Need to get laid?”
Bones glared at him across the table, which caused Jim to burst out laughing.
“I got off a double shift last night at the hospital and was woken up at seven by my lunatic neighbor. So, I think I’m entitled to being a bit cranky right now.”
Jim pouted. “Ah, I’m sorry about that lunatic neighbor of yours. What would you like me to make you for dinner so you’ll be happy again?”
“The chicken pot pie you make in those individual dishes.” Bones replied without a moment’s hesitation. Jim huffed out a little laugh at his friend and agreed to make the pot pies for dinner.
Jim arrived at work at 8:30. He really wasn’t supposed to be there for another ½ hour but he was really excited about the new books and couldn’t wait to get a crack at going through them as soon as possible. If a book wasn’t already in their system and it wasn’t some type of reference book or it didn’t have a summary with it, then he got to take the book home and read through it so that he could have it placed in its proper section of the library. Jim loved it.
He walked into the staff’s break room and put his bag in his locker. Jim’s coworker, Gaila, walked in shortly after him and sat down at the table in the center of room, looking defeated.
“I blame you,” She said. “You make the rest of us look bad by showing up early and I guarantee you that every book we receive today in that estate shipment, you’ve probably read before.”
Jim giggled, went over to where she was sitting and stood behind her. He leaned down and put his arms around her shoulders resting his chin on her shoulder.
“You know you love me and you only work here part-time, anyway.” Jim told her. Gaila considered herself to be an artist, but it didn’t pay that well. She only sells a painting or two per month and they rarely sell at a price that she could live off of in San Francisco. Jim had gotten her the job at the library several months ago, and while she was good at it, she didn’t love books like Jim did.
“Pose for me and I’ll consider forgiving you.” She told him, reaching her left hand up behind her and patting him, not so gently, on his cheek. Jim gave out a little “ow” sound and let go of her. He rubbed his cheek and sat down next to her and gave her a look that clearly said, “No way in hell.”
“Oh, come one. It promise it won’t be another nude piece. I’ll keep it tasteful. And you are just too cute to not to have paintings done of your likeness.” She pleaded with him. He sighed and shook his head.
“Gaila, you know I don’t mind the posing, the clothed posing, where you don’t show my face in the artwork. I just hate who you sell the paintings to. The last time I posed for you, you painted a picture of my lower back and bare ass, granted it was a great picture and the vibrant use colors was amazing, but then you sold it to some creepy Efrosian who kept asking for more pictures of me.”
“First of all, that Efrosian paid a lot of credits for that piece; so much so that I paid my rent off for five months. And second, he never saw what you looked like, just your ass, which is very, very nice by the way.” Gaila leered at Jim and licked her lips. Jim stared blankly at her.
“Barking up the wrong tree here, Gaila. You’re very pretty, but…” Jim started.
“Buuuuut…I’m missing a certain piece of hard anatomy that you love.” Gaila finished. Jim grinned at her and they both started to laugh.
Their boss, Dr. Rhee, walked into the break room at 9 o’clock sharp along with several of Jim and Gaila’s other co-workers. Dr. Rhee stood in the middle of the room for a few moments and looked through his PADD. Dr. Rhee was a nice enough guy and Jim thought he was a good boss and hoped to take over his job one day. He just wished Dr. Rhee would get on with the staff-meeting so Jim could start going through the new books.
“I think we are going to do things a little differently today in regards to the new shipment of donated books,” Dr. Rhee started. Jim’s eyes got big, No, no Dr. Rhee. Give me the handle on the books like usual, don’t you fucking dare take this away from me. “Instead of Jim here going through all the books like usually, I believe we will have Tia and Xy’rell sort through this shipment and get them into the library’s database. They need the practice with it and Jim, we can’t have you doing everything here. You do too much already.” Dr. Rhee kept talking but Jim had zoned out, That sonofabitch, taking away my books all so the newbies can practice. Practice! Jim let his head fall down on the table in front of him as he heard Dr. Rhee and the rest of the staff head out to open the library. He felt someone place their hand on his back and he turned and looked up to see Tia standing there. She looked kind of sheepish, like she hadn’t just stolen Jim’s precious beloved books from him.
“I am so, so sorry. I really didn’t know he’d do that.” She told him. Jim sighed and got up and headed to leave the break room.
“Jim, I do need the practice with going through the shipments of donated books. I mean I’ve helped you with a few of the smaller donations, but you always kind of close all of us out and do it yourself. We are a team, Jim, we need to work together. For the love of the books, right?” Tia was trying to cheer Jim up but he was already upset and while he knew it wasn’t her fault and that he did need to share the responsibilities more, he liked doing the sorting himself on his own. Just him and the books. He turned back to look at Tia. She did look really sorry.
“It’s ok, Tia. I know you and the rest need to work on sorting the donated books more. I was just looking forward to it, you know. I’ll see you after work; you and Xy’rell have fun with the books and let me know if I can be of any help.” Jim gave her a little wave and headed out into the center of the library to the information desk, where he and Gaila would be stationed for their shift today.
He sat down next to Gaila at the big, circular information desk and put his hands in his head.
“Today, started off so well,” Jim started. “I actually slept well last night, which doesn’t happen that often. I got Bones to make me pancakes, which where delicious. And then I get to work, still very happy, and find Dr. Dumbass had stolen away my books from me.” Jim really felt like crying, but he wouldn’t. Not a work. Probably once he got home at the end of the day and stuffed his face with chicken pot pie and butter pecan ice-cream.
Gaila patted him on the head and said, “Cheer up, Jimmy. They’ll be other books. Better books.” Jim laughed a bit at that comment.
“I’m not going through a break up, Gaila.”
“Well, then stop acting like you are. At least Dr. Rhee didn’t give me the job, right?” Jim nodded his head, Gaila wouldn’t know what to do with sorting the books. She was better at helping people check out books and reshelving them. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch over it, Jim. Next time I’m sure he’ll give you the job because you are the best at it.” Jim nodded and sat up straight in his chair, determined to just let the books go and focus on helping any patrons that needed it. The library was usually a quiet place and they would only get a couple dozen people in per day. Most people didn’t care for books anymore, and just used their PADDs to download electronic copies.
He felt saw Gaila roll her chair around to the other side of the information desk. A few minutes later his PADD vibrated with a message. He tapped the screen to view the message.
Gaila Vro: Yo! Guess what?
Jim Kirk: What? We are supposed to be working.
Gaila Vro: They are like 6 people in the library and none have asked for help. Guess who just walked in and went upstairs?
Jim Kirk: Who?
Gaila Vro: Mr. Hot Vulcan ;)
Jim stared at the message. The Hot Vulcan. Spock. He’s here. Well, of course he’d be here, he comes in almost every day. Jim thought to himself. He turned off his messages and put the PADD off to the side. Not going to be distracted. Going to work. But…there’s really nothing to do. No books that need to be reshelved or anyone who has asked for help….maybe the Spock needs help. I should maybe go check. Jim started to get up and go check on things around the library, more specifically, to see if Mr. Hot Vulcan needs any help.
But as Jim turned to leave the desk area he saw him. Spock. Come back down stairs with a few books in his hands and walk over to his usual table that was adjacent to the information desk and sit down and started to read through one of the books. Jim stared at him for a few seconds then felt his face start to heat up a bit. He turned and sat back down at his spot. He could still see Spock out of the corner of his eye. Spock was wearing black pants, as usual, but today was sporting a deep purple sweater that fit him perfectly, Jim thought. Spock had started to come to the library three months ago and had only spoken to Jim in regards to book information. Spock was also Uhura’s friend and Uhura was Gaila’s roommate. Uhura also frequently accompanied Jim and Gaila on pantie runs and she and Jim had become pretty good friends.
Jim was doing well with not looking at Spock. Gaila kept sending him messages but he knew it would be in his best interest to ignore them. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Spock get up and gather the books and start to make his way towards Jim and the information desk. Oh, no. Nope, uh-uh, can’t handle him talking to me today, nope walk past, walk past. Jim kept repeating his head. But of course Jim’s day wasn’t going to go his way today and Spock walked right up to him and held out the books.
Jim stared at him. Spock stared back and raised one of his slanted eyebrows. Jim kept staring, his mouth slightly open.
“I would like to check these books out.” Spock said, his voice making Jim’s insides go all fluttery. Jim kept staring, Wow, he has gorgeous brown eyes—like chocolate. And those ears…so cute! Wait, he said something.
“HowcanIhelpyoutodaysir?” Jim said in a rush, then realized his mistake, licked his lips and corrected himself, “How can I help you today, sir?”
Both of Spock’s eyebrows were raised now, his eyes had glanced down to Jim’s pink lips when he had licked them.
“I said, I would like to check these books out. Is your hearing adequate?”
Jim knew he was blushing as he took the three books from Spock and instructed him to scan his library chip on the sensor on top of the desk. Jim scanned the books and saw that that two books were about dating and relationships for dummies and one on human sexuality. Great, he’s interesting in someone. Someone that obviously isn’t me. Jim then stood, and handed the books back to the Vulcan, who took them back, careful of not touching Jim’s hands.
“Here you go. They are due back May 30. I hope you have a pleasant day.” Jim smiled shyly and said. Spock stared at him for a beat then nodded and turned and walked out of the library. Jim stared at his back as he left, until he had gone out of sight. Jim gave an exaggerated sigh and went to plop down into his seat, but it had rolled back when he had stood and Jim ended up on the floor instead. Yep, today is just not my day. Jim thought from where he lay, sprawled on the floor behind the info desk. He could hear Gaila laughing at him, but he closed his eyes at just wished for the floor to swallow him up.