Title: Welcome, My Thief of Time
Fandom: Star Trek: the Original Series
Rating: G
Characters: Kirk,Spock
Length: 610
Content notes: none
Summary: Jim steals Spock's time, but Spock is a willing victim. (De-aged fic that both of them are turned into kids.)

Despite Spock’s confusion about landing on a Federation starship with no memory of his arrival, he stayed calm and turned this into a learning opportunity as the Vulcan way dictated. The doctor lent him his pad, so he was reading the latest discovery on the effect of low gravity on antimicrobial Resistance in bacteria when Jim arrived.

"Spock, come play with me," Jim looked up at him with his eyes wide open. "I'm bored."
"I am reading. May I suggest looking for Ensign Chekov?"

"He ran away from me when I said hello to him," Jim said. "And he's not you."

Spock felt a faint warmth that he put aside for analysis later. For some reasons, Jim took a liking to him and invited him to join most of his activities. While Spock was beyond the age of playing games, his research showed that human children needed games and entertainment for proper development. It would be cruel to deny Jim. If Spock reaped any enjoyment from this arrangement, it was irrelevant and coincidental. "What do you want to play?"

"Do you know how to play chess? I have just found a 3-D chess set in the rec room."

Spock's mother taught him about this human game since young, so Spock felt compelled to reply, "I am very good at chess."

"Cool! I haven't been beaten in almost a year." Jim looked undaunted, catching Spock's hand to rush him to the rec room.

Spock had explained Vulcan reluctance of physical contact to Jim before, but Jim always forgot when he was excited. Spock found it easier to strengthen his barrier than trying to end the contact, because Jim looked puzzled and hurt when he did that. He learnt from his mother that humans were tactile, so it was worth it to respect Jim’s biological need in the principle of IDIC.

Several games later, Spock found that Jim was equally good in chess. Jim took bold chances and seemingly reckless moves, but there was logic underlying his attack. He was forced to utilize every strategy and moves he had learnt to trap Jim's king. "Checkmate."

Jim laughed. "You’re really good. We should play more."

Spock was impressed how well Jim took his defeat, an admirable quality considering Jim's age.

Jim stretched his body and asked, "What should we do next? Why don't we go to the observatory? You love stars too, don't you"

"Vulcans do not have preference, but we can go to the observatory."

It was at least safer than the engineering section, where Jim once hid himself in one of the Jefferies tubes for nearly an hour, Spock thought.

Jim bit his lips. "But I thought you wanted to watch stars with me. We can go elsewhere if you don't."

"The observatory is acceptable," Spock replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

The observatory on the ship provided an impressive view of the stars. Jim stared at them and said, “I used to wonder whether anyone is looking back from there.”

“There are no inhabited star systems visible from the night sky of Earth.”

Jim pressed his lips tight. “It's too bad. I really wanted to meet them.”

Spock wondered whether he should say something, but suddenly Jim broke into a smile. “But I met you, and we are from different planets. Isn't it cool?”

Logic dictated that Spock should clarify that there is nothing inherently “cool” about their different origins, but looking at Jim’s soft eyes, Spock answered, “Yes, it is fortunate.”

When Lieutenant Sulu retrieved them for lunch, Spock was aware that he spent 1.57 hours with Jim instead of studying, but strangely, he felt it was worth it.