Chapter Text
From the captain's chair, Kirk found his gaze drawn to Spock, oblivious or perhaps simply accustomed to being watched. If Sulu and Chekov’s knowing glances were any indication, Kirk wasn't being discreet about it at all.. They were going on year six of their ten year mission and a lot had happened since. Spock had admitted they were friends, they both were on the operating table more times then they could count, and countless nights had been spent in each other’s chambers talking or playing chess. “Captain, we are getting a distress signal,”Uhura advised and he gestured to have her patch it through. The universal translator whirred, unable to lock onto the language, yet the frantic tones carried a universal message: a child's desperate, untranslated cries. “Sulu-”
“On it captain,” they changed course to head towards the signal and Kirk once again felt a sense of pride in having such a competent crew. They arrived at the site of a floating ship, the hull had a giant chunk taken out and they beamed down to take a look.
Spock knelt, running a hand over the jagged edges of the destroyed hull. 'Are these... bite marks?' he murmured, a rare note of genuine scientific bewilderment in his tone. Kirk joined him, his gut clenching at the sheer, impossible scale of the damage.
“If it is, it would have to be a Megladone,” he smirked a little as Spock began to ramble about how that was scientifically improbable and started to move deeper into the ship. “Please help!” Came a kid's voice and without a second thought Kirk ran to it, trusting that his crew would follow. A few tunnels later and Kirk realized he was all by himself and in a room with a portal. The green light hummed, swirling with such hypnotic allure that the thought of stepping inside felt less like a choice and more like an undeniable invitation. Every instinct screamed 'danger,' but a deeper, more primal urge simply said, 'Go’. Little did he know on the other side, another version of him was also looking at the strange portal that he and his Spock had opened while experimenting with alternative universes.
As Kirk stepped into the swirling green light, he felt a strange pressure, a sensation like being simultaneously pushed and pulled. On the other side, an unseen force shoved another man through, sending him sprawling to the ground, unconscious. Kirk came face to face with an unconscious, non pointy eared Spock and a very scared Khan, who flinched back from Kirk, eyes wide.
Kirk instinctively reached for his phaser, but his hand froze. The hum of the room, the strange version of Khan... this was clearly not his universe. He glanced around: metallic walls, sliding doors, a corridor stretching ahead. It looked like the interior of a Starfleet vessel, but something felt subtly off – the lighting too soft, the air too still. The last thing he needed was to introduce alien technology into what was already an impossible situation. He holstered the phaser. This Khan might be human, and clearly terrified, but Kirk expected more of a challenge as he moved in.
Regretfully while he was fighting, the power cut off to the portal and the room was silent. Uhura came through the door holding glasses of tea and observed the situation, the smile on her face falling. 'Kirk, what happened?' Kirk shrugged helplessly; he wasn't sure what the protocol was for this. Should he admit to being from another universe? They clearly knew about multiverses, but would she believe him? 'Khan turned on me and Spock, I had to defend myself.' She didn’t look convinced but sat the drinks down and kneeled at Spock's side to examine him.
'We need to take him to Leonard, can you help me lift him up?' Warily Kirk complied, approaching the other Spock and putting the majority of his weight on him. He waited for Uhura to show him the way and again she looked at him with a calculating eye. He realized belatedly he should know where his friend's medical bay or whatever was in this... building.
'He got some licks in me so my brain is feeling fuzzy, humor me?' He tried to inject as much tiredness into his voice as possible, and it seemed to work. She gave him a soft smile and nodded, then turned down a corridor that felt subtly wrong, the lights a different hue, the air pressure just a fraction off. Kirk followed, a knot tightening in his gut. When they finally entered the medical bay, his eyes found the familiar sight of Leonard McCoy, leaning over a console. A wave of profound relief washed over him – his best friend. But then McCoy looked up, a wry grin spreading across his face, and spoke. 'Oh boy, what happened now?' His accent was midwestern, not the southern drawl he had grown used to, and it finally sunk into Kirk that he was in an entirely different universe.
It’s a blur but,” Kirk mumbled, trying to sound dazed, “one of our fellow scientists attacked Spock. Spock blocked it but… well, you see.”
Leonard gave a snort at that as he held up a stethoscope to Spock to check his heart beat and shined some light into his eyes. “Fellow scientists are being bold, you just like hanging around with Spock and Khan because you like testing their inventions.”
“Well that kind of makes me a scientist right? Testing is part of that stuff.” This time Uhura
laughed with Leonard and Kirk felt left out.
“What has gotten into you? You hate being compared to scientists.”
“Yep “Stuffy egg heads in lab coats” you called them.” Leonard continued his examination with a hint of amusement in his tone. Kirk laughed along with the banter but internally he was struggling. ’He’d just landed in this bizarre, slightly-off mirror of his own reality, and these versions of his friends were acting like he’d merely stumbled in after a rough night.’
Spock woke up mid exam and grumpily pushed the doctor’s hand away and Leonard laughed.
“Well look who’s up, and he didn’t even need his prince charming to wake him this time.” Clearly panicked, Spock got up and anxiously searched for Kirk and he was pulled into the tightest warmest hug.
“Oh thank god you are safe,” he murmured and Kirk felt his heart beat rapidly. To have all this raw emotion pointed at him after years of tentative secret smiles was a heady feeling. He felt a pang of guilt though, whatever feelings this Spock had wasn’t for him but for his counterpart. Kirk still hugged back because he didn’t want to draw attention to everyone but he felt Spock stiffen at the return hug. Kirk pulled away and looked him in the eye, begging to play along for the moment and thankfully he understood.
“Leo, we’re going to be heading back home to recover. Can you make sure Kahn is taken to the authorities?” Leonard groaned at that but nodded, cleaning his tools and then leaving the room with Uhura in tow.
“Leo?” Kirk murmured in confusion and Spock grabbed his hand, leading him out of the office and towards presumably the parking lot.
“The nickname we gave him in college, well me and my Kirk did.” Kirk shouldn’t be surprised that Spock had figured it out, if anyone would it was him. Hopefully that meant they could figure out how to swap him back without much fuss. They got into the car and Kirk admired it appreciatively, it was an older model of cadillac so he was surprised when a voice came from the car to ask if they wanted auto drive mode or manual. Spock chose the auto-drive option, yet his hands remained lightly on the wheel, eyes scanning the road with the same vigilant focus Kirk knew from his bridge. He was clearly uncomfortable, though, and Kirk scrambled to lighten the mood.
“So you and my counterpart are married?” Spock flinched and Kirk sighed, ok not the best way to lighten the mood.
“Yes, we have been partners for three years now.” Alt-Spock offered the information, the quiet admission seeming to slightly diffuse the tension in the small space.
“How did you know I wasn’t him?” Kirk figured he knew the answer but wanted to confirm his hypothesis.
“My husband would have kissed me if I was attacked, not provided a belated return hug.”
Kirk sighed, a complex mix of understanding and a strange ache settling in his chest. That sounded like the Kirk he knew, the one who led with instinct and affection. A kiss, not a hesitant, tactical hug.
“I think it happened when you guys opened up that portal, is there any way to open it back up?”
"“Is there a way?” Spock said, his eyes never leaving Kirk’s. “Yes, will it take you to your universe? Probably not.” He paused. “But I can confirm you are indeed from a different one. The medical scans confirmed as much, and your unique bio-signatures, despite your striking resemblance to my husband, are quite distinct.” Kirk was grateful for this patience; he had a lot to understand. Spock was very patient with his answers, Kirk was grateful for this because he had a lot to understand.
“It is from our understanding that people knowing I am from the multiverse won’t affect the timeline of your universe. Provided no one knows about the switch.”
“Ah but someone does know now,” Spock gave a slight smile and Kirk returned it with a bigger one.
“So what do we do?”
“We need to establish a connection with your universe, a communication device of some sort.”
“I have my comm device, we use it to discuss things when on another planet.”
“Really? I would have thought aliens would be-”
“Green and pointy-eared?” Kirk prompted.
Alt-Spock’s lips quirked. “And with a rounder head, yes. Such are the common assumptions regarding humanoids.” Kirk laughed at the irony of Spock of all people saying that.
“You haven’t asked about my world yet, your Kirk will be safe.” At the reassurance, the rigidity that had held Spock throughout their journey seemed to melt from his shoulders. He exhaled a long, quiet sigh, and then they pulled into the driveway of a medium sized rancher home.
“Good. I am gratified he will not be consumed,” Alt-Spock stated, a genuine note of relief in his voice.
“It’s so weird seeing you so open with your emotions, my Spock is a vulcan so he has been only recently trying them out after suppressing them for so long.
“If you are anything like my Jim, that must be very tiring for you being so emotional.” They stepped into the house and Spock provided him slippers that he switched into and they moved to the couch, sitting a respectful distance from each other.
“It was at first, I fell into the trap most humans do about them being emotionless but when I saw him get truly angry for the first time..” He trailed off and Spock coughed in discomfort and Kirk hurried to continue, "Well anyway," Kirk hurried to continue, the phantom echo of Alt-Spock's raw, unrestrained relief still reverberating through him, "it’s been... illuminating, being around someone who lets their guard down so completely."
“Can I see your comm device?” Spock asked and Kirk hurried to hand him it, sitting back to watch his new friend examine it.
“Ah I see, yes this should help we just need to hook it up to a radio and sneak the cord in through the portal. We will have a message of "we have your Kirk please respond”, and they can respond by speaking into the cord.”
“Wow this resolved itself quickly,” Kirk was relieved, as nice as it had been to meet a version of him and Spock, he missed his old life.
“We still have to find your timeline,” Spock huffed in exasperation at the optimism that reminded him so much of his Kirk. “I suppose I should show you to your bedroom and then I will get started on dinner. Any allergies I should know about?”
“Ha it would be easier to tell you that I am not allergic too, just keep it simple like burgers or something.”
“What a very Jim thing to say,” Spock was amused again and Kirk was happy, he did not like the sad or angry version of this Spock. After being shown to his room and provided sleeping clothes, Spock showed him to the bathroom and his bedroom, a quiet offer of care should he need anything during the night. Sitting at the island while Spock cooked, Kirk rambled about the differences.
“We live in space so we don’t have a great access for water besides drinking and cooking so we use sonic ions to clean ourselves. Nothing beats a warm Earth bath though, bonus if it can be in a hot spring.” In return, Spock got Kirk up to speed on his counterpart's life. They all met in college, Kirk was on the football team and Leonard and Spock were the nerd friends he befriended during tutoring so he could stay on the team. Surprisingly for Kirk, Leonard and Spock were friends before Kirk entered the picture though Kirk apparently quickly made his way into the group. As Spock plated their burgers, his hand moved with practiced ease, reaching automatically for the ketchup. Kirk opened his mouth, a sudden, frantic internal alarm blaring. 'Oh,' he blurted, perhaps a beat too quickly. 'I don’t like ketchup, just mustard is fine.' The words hung in the air. Spock’s hand froze mid-air, then slowly, deliberately, he put the ketchup down, a knowing, almost resigned expression on his face. Kirk wrinkled his nose at his counterpart's bad taste, but dug into the burger anyway and didn’t comment.
“This is so good Spock wow,” Kirk heaped praises onto Spock, amused that Alt-Spock's ears, so unlike the pointed ones he knew, flushed a distinct red as he ducked his head in embarrassment.
“It’s been a while since my cooking was complimented,” Alt-Spock said, a note of quiet wistfulness entering his voice. “I suppose my Jim had simply grown accustomed to good meals.” he said this wistfully and Kirk felt bad for bringing those memories up. He must miss him so much and here Kirk was complimenting his food.
“You’ll see him again, you’ll see.” They had agreed to avoid confusion that Spock’s Kirk would be referred to as Jim when they were alone and Spock softly laughed at that.
“I see the optimism is universal,” it was fond though and Kirk counted that as a win as they finished up their dinner. They sat on the couch, a little closer than before as they swap stories, and this Spock was just as pretty as his Spock when he smiled. “I think we should tell Leo, he likes talking about the past and you won’t be able to react properly,” Spock decided and Kirk had to agree, if anyone would pinpoint a fake, it would be Bones.
“Ok, we can invite him for tea tomorrow here and explain the situation.” Spock nodded and with that decided they went to bed, sharing a soft goodnight. Kirk laid in bed staring up at the ceiling wondering how Spock was handling his counterpart. He rolled onto his side and sighed sadly, soon he’ll be back and maybe he’ll confess.