Title: My Loyalest Friend
Fandom: Star Trek: the Original Series
Rating: G
Characters: Kirk/Spock
Length: 754
Content notes: none
Summary: While Jim remains loyal to his love for paperbound book, it gets harder for Jim to read them as he ages. Spock seeks it as his duty to help his mate to recover the joy.

It was rare that Jim shared a quiet night with Spock together without interruption - Klingons and pirates did not time their attack in consideration of the designated night time on the ship , and as commanding officers of the Starfleet’s flagship, Jim and Spock’s works were never done.

The Enterprise was on a mapping mission in this sector, and so far nothing had decided to use the Enterprise as they new play thing. Spock meditated kneeling on a mat, while Jim read a paperbound version of Big Sleep. He was so submerged in the grim and grey New York, lost in his own memory of the magical and cruel city that Spock’s voice startled him.

“It is more practical to read on your device,” Spock commented, sitting by his side. “It saves space, allows you to annotate and bookmark pages easily and are more convenient to carry.”

“I know,” Jim looked up from his book to smile at Spock. How should I explain to Spock? Jim wondered. He understood and appreciated the merit of technology development that made papers obsolete, (The Enterprise’ll sink from the sheer weight of the paperwork it carries otherwise, Jim thought with amusement.) but there was a charm to paper bound books that was irreplaceable.

“I love being able to physically flip open the pages,” Jim said. “The smell and texture of papers were nice, and I felt as if I held a piece of history on my hand with one.”

“Illogical,” Spock raised an eyebrow, but glanced at Jim teasingly.

“Humans’re always illogical,” Jim said. “Want a game of chess?”

“Affirmative.”

Despite Spock’s comment about Jim’s illogic, he gave Jim a well preserved paper bounded version of the Tale of Two Cities.

When Jim thanked Spock for that, he replied, “I know of your fondness for antiques.”

It was so much Spock’s style, Jim thought fondly, to show his care in thoughtful ways.

The book was carefully stored inside a safebox now, but Jim hadn’t yet to look at it after Spock’s death and revival. One day he would reread it, to savour the line 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'

Not today. Not yet.

---

After retirement from active service, Jim lived together with Spock in an apartment on Earth. While teaching at Starfleet Academy was fulfilling and challenging, Jim still got much more time to read than before.

Too bad that now that he had the time and heart, his flesh was weak.

Jim understood that it was only a matter of life for his body to fade with old age, but he still sighed when his hands trembled and hurt holding books for a long time. When he was younger he would force himself to go on, but at this point of life he learned to make peace with it.

Jim always loved to read by the bedside, and his bedside was stacked with books: a biography of war heroine in the Great War, a history of spice and other great novels. Jim sighed. He would love to read any of them, but their weight put too much strain on his hands to made bedside reading no longer enjoyable.

One day Spock presented a well wrapped a gift to him. Jim opened the wrapping paper carefully, and found a colourful pyramid-shaped pillow with a rope hanging from it.

“What’s this for?” Jim asked, looking around and touching it to figure out its purpose. It felt very soft and smooth.

“It is a book stand for bedside reading. You can rest the book on the ledge so that you can read comfortably.”

Jim felt warm radiated through his body for Spock’s consideration. “Thank you. I appreciate it, but you really shouldn’t.” As paper bound book reading was now a curiosity, book stands were obscure. It must have taken Spock considerable effort to find one for his use.

“It is logical to help my mate to do something he enjoys,” Spock said.

Jim laughed, the warmth inside him spiking higher. “Why, Mr. Spock, I didn’t expect you to be such a romantic.”

He put the gift away and embraced Spock. “Did I tell you how I love you today?”

“Yes, you did 5 hours, 37 minutes, nineteen seconds ago.”

“So long? I must remedy that,” Jim said, leaning against Spock. “I love you, and I am grateful for you in my life.”

Jim pressed his lips to Spock, who eagerly kissed back as usual. I am the luckiest man in the world, Jim thought.