Title: A Pub of My Heart
Fandom: Star Trek: the Original Series
Pairing: none
Rating: G
Length: 741
Content notes: none
Summary: Leyla needs a drink after a bad day, but this pub is more interesting than she thinks. (Outsiders PoV, Maybe magic, maybe mundane AU)
Author's note: Also for gen_prompt bingo: temporary lodgings

Leyla strolled along the street, her feet hurt after going through several unhelpful government offices to process her claim. Sweat dripped down her back and she thirsted for a drink.

Something flickered. She stopped before a pub. Strange that she missed it before, she thought.

The pub was on the ground floor of an old building, with a small golden sign in a funny font. Shrugging, she opened the door and went straight to the bar stand, where there were not yet customers. A bartender was cleaning a glass.

"A half pint of a lager shandy?" she asked.

The bartender smiled at her. "Right away."

He poured lemonade into a glass, holding the glass at an angle and poured the beer inside slowly, and served it to her.

It tasted pretty good.

"I haven't seen your pub before," Leyla said. After dealing with faceless bureaucrats all the day, she craved some human connection. Even idle conversation was good

"It's easy to miss. Usually all we have are the regulars," the bartender said. "How's your day?"

"Awful. I have to fill in dozens of forms and submit loads of supporting documents, and every department contradicts itself in what I should do." She tapped the desk. "I don't know when, or whether it'll be done. Worse, no one seems to know either."

"It's worst when your enemy is the bureaucracy. At least when it's a god you can punch him in the face or trick him."

"Exactly," Leyla said, her mood lightened a bit by his commiseration

Some guitar music with complicated rhythm started playing. A gorgeous woman entered the bar, and the whole place glowed.

The woman smiled at the bartender. "Hi, Jim. What about a half pint of Bloody Mary?"

Jim's eyes twinkled when he started mixing. "Anything for you, Uhura. How's your poem reading doing?"

Uhura laughed, her laughter reminding Leyla of a crystal wind chime. "Great, the audience really loved it. You should really come some time."

"I'll be glad to." Jim smiled back.

Leyla wondered whether to buy a drink for Uhura when a man joined them, the chair squeaked when he sat down. "Uhura! I don't expect to see you here. A dram of whiskey on the rocks, please."

"Hi! Scotty, What kind of wonder are you working on?"

Scotty launched into a very technical description of his project which mostly went over Leyla’s head, but Uhura listened intently, her glass remained full even though she had drank from it. Jim must have refilled her drink when Leyla was distracted by Uhura, Leyla thought.

A pair of guys arrived, with the shorter one talking to the other in thick Russian accent. "This time I will score the dart game. The last time's just rotten luck."

The other guy laughed, "Are you sure, Chekov? You said the same thing thrice!"

Chekov's face reddened, "It's slander, Sulu! Darts are invented in Russia."

"Vodka and cider as usual, right?" Jim asked.

"Yes," they both answered.

"It's right time you came, Sulu. Uhura doesn't believe me when I say you tested flight my plane and was still alright."

"Well, I still don't feel alright," Sulu said with a teasing smile.

It was obvious that these people knew each other. Leyla drank from her glass.

"Sometimes they can be a noisy crowd," Jim said, refilling her glass.

"I don't mind. It's more lively this way." Leyla smiled back. Honestly, her spirit rose when these people joked, argued and laughed.

The air grew still and heavy. It was suddenly hard for Leyla to breathe. Jim's eyes lit up when a dark-haired man joined them.

"It's a long time, Spock." Jim said, his eyes gluing to the man. "The usual?"

Spock nodded. "My assignment took longer than expected, and yes."

Jim prepared a cup of hot tea for the man, their hands briefly touched when he served it. "Are you alright, and how long can you stay?"

"I am fine, and I can stay until the next summon," Spock replied.

Jim smiled. "I have your room ready for you. Chess later?"

"It will be agreeable," Spock said, his eyes softened.

When Leyla paid the bill and left, she thought she saw white feather protruding from Spock's back, but surely she was tired enough to have a hallucination. She walked to her bus stop with a better mood. Tomorrow she still needed to face the same bureaucracy, but she had more strength to go on.