Title: Furry Birthday

Author: Pet Parent

Series: ST TOS

Pairing:  Spock/McCoy

Rating: PG

Word count: 1,400

Beta: my wife, tprillah

Summary:  Dr. McCoy gives Spock a hamster for his birthday.

FURRY BIRTHDAY

“Happy Birthday, Spock!”  McCoy said.

The little creature stood hunched over, staring up at them.  It had a grape in what could be described as its little hands.  Neither party moved for what seemed to be an eternity.

Finally, after some thought, the Vulcan responded:  “Fascinating.”

“It’s a hamster!  I got it on shoreleave two weeks ago and I was hiding it until now.  I fell in love with it instantly because it looks like a scoop of Neapolitan ice cream!”

“Neapolitan ice cream?”

“Yeah with uh...chocolate and vanilla and strawberry stripes--see the stripes on this hamster?  Looks the same.”  McCoy beamed as he pointed to the furry animal. 

“It appears to have only two brown stripes and one white stripe,” Spock said.

McCoy held up his hand.  “Alright, two chocolate and one vanilla stripe.  Happy now, you goddamned pedantic Vulcan--”

“It is...an interesting animal, Doctor,” Spock replied.

“It is,” McCoy agreed, “however it does seem to be giving us a ‘go to hell’ look.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was planning our demise.”  He leaned in closer to the cage that enclosed the animal, staring more intently at it.  “Doesn’t it?”

As if on cue, the hamster shoved the grape into its mouth and scampered off for an upper shelf of its ‘home’.  When it reached a spot that was satisfactory to its needs the hamster dug a hole in the shavings and spat out the grape.  After pushing the shavings back over the grape, it walked over to a small tunnel that McCoy had provided for it, a last minute idea.  It lay down and went to sleep.

“Well, what do you think?”  McCoy looked like a child wanting approval for something it had made for his parents.

Spock was fond of animals of all kinds, even positively lethal ones, but he had to admit that he did not know what to do with this new pet.  He could find some sort of calm in observing a creature like this--a bit like a Tribble with a sour disposition, hands and feet.  “Hamsters live only three years,” he noted to McCoy.

“So?”

“We shall not have this pet for long.”

“Three years is a long time,” McCoy told him.

“Tribbles live for five years,” Spock countered. 

“Do we really want a Tribble?”

“Negative.”

“Besides, who cares how long this cute little thing lives?  What matters is the here and now.” 

McCoy’s smile started to fade, just as Spock said:  “It is a nice gift, Leonard, thank you.”

“That’s it? Just ‘nice’? I thought you would love it!  You love animals!  And for Christ’s sake, it looks like an ice cream, you love ice cream!”  McCoy stomped off towards the sleeping area of their cabin and plopped down onto the bunk.

Spock hated this part about being in a relationship with this man.  Whenever McCoy did not get the answer he liked, McCoy became like a child.  As he always did when they engaged in a tiff, Spock walked over to the bunk and lay down next to the man.  He reached over to touch the doctor’s shoulders, they were tense.  After some work they finally loosened up.

“Doctor,” Spock said, slowly maneuvering the minefield that was his lover’s emotions.  “I...love the gift.  I shall treasure it.  Thank you again.”

McCoy rolled over onto his back and stared at Spock.  He searched for any signs of Spock ‘stretching the truth‘ and after a few moments finally leaned up and kissed Spock on the lips.  The two embraced for awhile until McCoy pulled away and said:  “You’re welcome!”  They slowly came together again, locking lips.

*

The sounds of something squeaking and turning occupied McCoy’s dreams.  He heard the sound of the cage door opening and then closing.  He opened his eyes for a moment and was confused as to where he was.  He took a minute to realize that he was naked and in Spock’s bed.  All of a sudden the images came back.  Kissing, touching, sucking and finally fucking.  The thought of it all was enough to wake up ‘the little doctor’.  But then he remembered a feeling he had while all of that was going on.  A feeling that something was amiss.  Spock had seemed distracted.  He had taken a lot longer to come than usual and didn’t seem to enjoy giving McCoy a blow job.

All of these thoughts were pushed to the side when McCoy realized that the Vulcan wasn’t next to him.  The sounds of squeaking and turning came back to him.  That must have been the hamster wheel.  McCoy remembered that at first he didn’t want to buy the wheel because of the noise, but was talked into it by the shop keeper. 

“You must buy it,” the man had said, “hamsters have to have a wheel.  It would be like a fish out of water!” 

McCoy went ahead and bought the thing and now knew why he was annoyed by it.    The wheel had gone unused until now.  The hamster must have found it.  But what was the sound of opening and closing? 

He sat up and noticed a shadowy figure moving about in the other room.  He slowly got out of bed and tiptoed to the doorway.  In the living room, standing near the cage, was Spock cupping the hamster in his hands.  The creature’s left cheek was protruding and looked about the size of a piece of broccoli. 

‘That sneaky little Vulcan,’ McCoy thought.  ‘I knew he couldn’t resist that long.’

Out loud he said:  “Having fun?”

Spock jumped.  McCoy snickered at that.  There was a huge smile on Spock’s lips that McCoy had once seen before when Spock had realized he hadn’t actually killed the captain. 

Quickly that smile went away as Spock cleared his throat and said:  “It is providing adequate enjoyment, yes.”

‘What a fucking liar,’ McCoy thought.  If he remembered correctly that same smile had almost brought the house down.  That smile was threatening to do it again.  “You know, Spock,” he said, “you are a horrible bluff.”

Spock stared at the doctor for a moment and without speaking, shuttled the hamster

into his left palm.  He then placed his right hand next to the left with a hands breath of distance between. 

The hamster walked cautiously over to the edge of his fingers and stood there for a few seconds, before finally deciding to take the leap of faith.  The animal jumped with a certain grace and confidence that only a pro would have.  When the creature landed onto Spock’s right hand, Spock switched places with his hands.  The hamster did the same trick again and then again as the Vulcan kept alternating his hands. 

Then Spock lowered his hand with the hamster sitting on it and moved his other hand even further away about an arm’s breath apart.  McCoy flinched and before he could object the hamster jumped the length and landed perfectly into Spock’s other hand.

“Six point oh,” McCoy quipped and shook his head.

Spock raised an eyebrow.  “Is something wrong, Doctor?”

Spock didn’t wait for an answer.  He opened the cage door and started to place the hamster back inside but hesitated for a moment.  He leaned forward and tenderly kissed the hamster’s head.  Afterwards, he placed the animal on its wheel and closed the cage door.  Spock stood back and watched with McCoy as the hamster finally started running in the wheel.

After all of the show, McCoy figured that the squeaking wasn’t so bad after all.

Spock turned towards his lover and put his arms around him.  He pulled the doctor in for a long kiss then pulled away.  He gazed into the doctor’s eyes and whispered: “Thank you for the wonderful gift.  It is truly one of the best that I have ever received.”

McCoy leaned over into Spock’s ear and said:  “You’re welcome, you green blooded Vulcan.  What did you name it?”

“The creature is harmless enough, but it seems to become extremely grumpy.  So I named it after someone with a similar personality.”

“Oh?”  McCoy asked.  “And who might that be?”

Spock started to lean forward for another kiss when he said:  “I named him Leonard.”

________

The End

Pet Parent February 2014