Title:  The Painting

Author:  mac :o)

Rating: R to be on the safe side, some swearing, a bit smooching and nekkidness

Summary: This is a snippet to accompany and explain the story behind my pic manipulation "Vulcan Boy at the Beach" 

Disclaimer:  I do not own Star Trek. Nor the boys. So sad...

And I don't make any profit from this and never will. I also don't own any rights on the painting:

"Dreng, der star pa eet ben og stryger strompen"

(Boy standing on one leg taking off his sock)

by J.F. Willumsen (1902)

I hope the artist can rest in peace despite of my manipulation.

Warning: This is schmoopy, un-beated (and I'm a non-native speaker) and probably OOC. I hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless.

The Painting

Drowsy and sated, Leonard McCoy softly stroked the fine black hairs on his lover's forearm.

He loved snuggling with Spock after their lovemaking. Like now, resting his head on the strong hairy chest and being held tight in Spock's arms.

He thought he was happy, genuinely happy for the first time in a long while. It was just the amenities of Earth he missed, like fresh air, a walk through lush and green woodlands or a picnic at a small lake. In short, a little shore leave with his lover would be perfect...

Come to think of it, they hadn't been together that long, so Leonard didn't know what kind of shore leave Spock would prefer, he suspected something hot and dusty with at least two suns and scorching temperatures to make him feel 'at home'.

"Spock?" he wispered, softly kissing the wonderful chest and moving his hand upwards to pet the black fur.

"Mmmmh..." came a deep rumble as a lazy answer, a sure sign the Vulcan was still dazed and sated.

"Assuming we could have shore leave together, where would you like to go?"

This unexpected question obviously roused Spock from his sex-induced stupor. His Vulcan analytical self kicked in and the next sentence was as precicesly phrased as if he was answering a question standing on the bridge at his science station.

Looking up to the ceiling while stroking Leonard's arm, he answered:

"An interesting question, Leonard. Do you want me to determine a certain planet, a place, city or landscape?

There are some museums on Denara IV I'd still like to visit and there is a fascinating abundance of insects on Velaria Tauri."

A prospect that made McCoy's hair stand on edge... "Spock, no! Please no bugs or ants!"

"I'd also like to visit the new stellar department of the science academy in San Francisco as soon as we return from this mission, hey have installed a..."

He was interrupted by a chuckle. "Spock, I mean shore LEAVE, like 'R&R', like in 'vacation'. Some days off, just relaxing... just you and me..."

"I think free time can also be used in a more effective manner, combining relaxation with information and research" this was emphasized by the ever active eyebrow

rising as if to reprimand the pleasure-seeking human.

" 'Research', my ass! There's only one thing I want to research while on vacation and that's lying right here before me" Leonard scolded, shifting himself, so that he was lying on his elbow in a reclined position, resting his head in his hand. From this position he looked down at Spock who still hadn't moved and now looked up into Len's eyes instead of staring at the gray ceiling.

"Seriously Spock, isn't there something you'd just love to see or do for fun? Something you dearly miss deep in the bottom of your half human heart?" McCoy teased, tipping his index finger on Spock's chest, where a human heart would have been - and Spock's was not -  which earned him another raised eyebrow.

Spock blinked, sighed and said: "The Ocean...I miss the sea, the salt and the waves. I'd love to go swimming in the ocean..."

Of all the answers Leonard had anticipated, this was the last one he expected with Spock being raised on a desert planet with no noteworthy expanse of water to speak of.

"You miss the ocean?" McCoy was baffled. "How...I mean...I didn't even know you could swim?"

Spock finally moved and mirrored McCoy's posture, so that they were lying front to front, looking into each other's eyes.

Spock cleared his throat and Len thought his eyes got a dreamy look, though Spock would have never admitted that.

"I spent almost every summer of my youth at Gran's house in Nantucket. I loved to run into the waves, to dive for shells and crabs and I explored the underwater mysteries of the breakwater and the beach..."

McCoy's eyes sparkled. "I can't believe that! You had a grannie and you played at the beach like any other kid?"

"You're the doctor! It shouldn't be necessary to explain to you the biological imperative of grandparents in the Human and Vulcan race.

And I didn't 'play', I swam and explored!"

"But you called her 'Gran'!"

"As I was told to do. Of course I don't have to mention that it was mandatory to call my father's mother by her official honorable title!"

" I bet 'T'Nana' or whatever her name was would certainly NOT have allowed you to dash into the waves", McCoy chuckled.

"Most certainly not. And certainly not in the nude!" There was a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of Spock's mouth and a bemused glint in his dark eyes.

"And you couldn't pronounce her full name."

Len's jaw couldn't drop any further. "You went skinny-dipping at the beach?"

"My Gran was a very open minded lady and there is no logic in wearing shorts that will only get wet and cold in the wind at the beach.

It's an extremely uncomfortable experience, so I rather changed into dry clothes when coming out of the water."

Len still shook his head. "You're pulling my leg, you never went nekkid into the ocean... somebody could have seen you!"

"I can prove it, there is a painting my Gran drew of me!"

"No way! You nekkid? On a painting? NEVER!"

Before Len could continue, Spock gracefully swung his long legs over the bedside and went to his desk, retrieving a PADD from a drawer.

Leonard sat up in a comfortable position, leaning against the headboard and enjoying the view of his beautiful lover, unselfconsciously walking through his cabin totally unclad. 'Well, perhaps that's partly Gran's upbringing' Len thought. He never felt that much at ease when he was naked in front of others, not even when he was alone with Spock.

Spock returned to the bed, lifted the covers and slid underneath to sit close to the doctor. He browsed through some files and finally opened a picture viewer to reveal the image of an oil painting.

"My grandmother painted it after a pic she took of me during my last summer on Earth before I prepared to commence with my final studies on Vulcan."

He handed the tablet over to his lover.

McCoy stopped breathing. His eyes roamed over the screen, trying to take in every detail, every mirror brush and every highlight in Spock's dark hair.

He looked at the painting, seeing the Vulcan, who for a few summers of his life, was allowed to be a human boy and teenager. He understood exactly why Spock missed the sea and the beach. It was his place of freedom, where discipline and logic didn't control him.

When they'd get a shore leave eventually, it had to be on an ocean planet. Preferably with no others in sight.

And Spock skinny-dipping...

"It's beautiful! You are beautiful... then and now!"

He carefully placed the PADD on the nightstand and turned towards Spock. He kissed him, tender little kisses along his jawline and up the pointed ears until Spock took over and plundered his mouth, loosing control as he only could with Len, his lover. Leonard's hand slipped under the covers cupping and fondling Spock's awakening organ. Sleep would not be close anytime soon, but they both didn't care.

Later that night when Leonard was exhausted and deeply asleep, Spock was still awake, spooned behind his lover, his arm around McCoy's side and caressing the older man's chest. Spock smiled a very tiny, very human smile against the doctor's back and thought of the painting that his mother was keeping in a trunk at their home on Vulcan. Of course a painting like this was not to be openly displayed in the house of a Vulcan ambassador.

But he would write to her and ask her to send it to him as it would make the perfect wedding gift...

FINIS