Looking for... smarm, I guess

[itsthewa.livejournal.com]

Hello, and if you get through the next few paragraphs, I thank you in advance.

While I'm a big ol' slash fan, slash just isn't my thing, strangely, when it comes to Kir and Spock TOS (or Kirk and Spock New Movie, actually). Maybe because TOS was my first fandom way back when I was a kid and wouldn't know about sexual slash for another couple of decades; maybe it's because the platonic but unprecedented, consuming, terrifyingly intense, loving friendship that Kirk managed to evoke in his previously unemotional First Officer felt so delicious transgressive that adding sex to the mix felt superfluous, even (excuse the pun) sorta anti-climactic.

Let me just say I wore out my copies of New Voyages 1 and ,2, The Price of the Phoenix (and Fate!), and Killing Time and you'll see where my K/S tastes reside. :) I think in these days such stories would be categorized as "smarm" (that is, fiction having all the emotional intensity between two characters as slash, but without the sexual component).

I know there must've been a lot of K/S smarm fanfic back in the day, but while I've done some searching, I haven't really been able to find any on the Internet. I don't know whether to chalk this up to my being a poor searcher (entirely possible) or if it's due to the fact that by the time the Internet came along, sexual K/S fanfic had by far taken the lead over Kirk/Spock fanfic of dizzying emotional pain and devotion BUT containing no sex.

I had about given up, but the request on this community just before mine asked about a story where Kirk is enslaved on a primitive vulcanoid planet and Spock has to go down and save him. The requester describe the story as being in "the not-really-slash classification because the real relationship between Kirk & Spock is just intense friendship."

Yes! YES! Slave hurt comfort devotion intensity love BUT not sex! Spock risking everything for the one being in the galaxy that he loves, for the friendship that defines his life, even though he KNOWS to feel such emotion is wrong!

THIS has been the exact kind of of story I have craved. And you guys found her request right off the bat too, which gives me even more hope.

So... [deep breath] Do any of you wonderful people knew where I could find other such stories? I would send virtual chocolate and ice cream and buy you endless alcoholic beverages should we ever meet up at a con. :)

Thank you!!

Comments

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

This might be a long shot, but do you like Heroes? If you do, you might like my wip crossover application of logic (http://verizonhorizon.livejournal.com/1263.html), b/c in it k & s friendship is important and non-slashy. Sample lines: He barely knew Kirk, the Captain wasn’t his best friend, and yet what little emotion transferred during the mind meld with Spock seemed to center around this life-defining friendship between the Captain and Commander... And another part, Sylar immediately identified a flaw in his own brilliant plan to help Spock in his friendships. The flaw, regrettably, was that Sylar himself didn’t have any real friends. Like I said, a longshot perhaps but I'm just now getting back into the story so it's on my mind.

That said, how do you feel about Reboot Uhura? Because a lot of the nutrek friendship K & S fics I have in mind often throw Spock with her even if the focus is on the friendship.

Also, sorry I'm lazy about not putting the links here, but Rhaegal's master list of doom (http://rhaegal.dreamwidth.org/5667.html) has an entire section (maybe with about a dozen fics) called gen/preslash that is K & S centered so you'll love it. And it has both tos and reboot stories.

[itsthewa.livejournal.com]

Woo-hoo! Thank you kindly!!!

[shuffles off to bed to read, already knowing I'm going to kick myself tomorrow morning for staying up too late reading now]

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

I am also a bit amused because your request reminds me of how in one of my fics (http://verizonhorizon.livejournal.com/8718.html#cutid1) I had Spock Prime declaring that Reboot Spock was cheapening his friendship with Kirk by getting in a romantic liaison with him. Ouch! Reboot Spock was not pleased. Not that that's what you're saying, but it made me think of it.

Choosing admission of ignorance as the better part of valor, Spock had contacted his older self. The result had been disappointing. His older self had not taken his relationship with his Captain to a romantic level as Spock had. Spock recalled indignant defiance arise in him when the elder had subtlety suggested that his unconsummated relationship with his Jim had been more powerful, more pure, for the very reason that it had been unconsummated. It had transcended such prosaic physical expression.

To use one of Jim’s Terran phrases…bullshit!

Spock had responded by proposing that the older Vulcan was letting denial speak for him.

The conversation had deteriorated quickly from there.

LOLS

[somewhatcliche.livejournal.com]

THIS.

I love you. *runs to read*

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

Great, but please mind the warnings on that particular fic - it's dark, mirror-verse and doesn't end well. Kind of like Gladiator.

[somewhatcliche.livejournal.com]

Haha, thanks, I did catch the warnings.

…I'm gonna read it anyway XD

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[denisitap.livejournal.com]

I can rec you one that I loved to the core.

http://www.allslash.org/tos/captain.html

A look at Kirk's first days aboard the Enterprise and his impressions of his Vulcan science officer. The Gary Mitchell of this story isn't as downright nasty as I've seen elsewhere, but still has some edges to him that are new to Kirk. I like that Kirk is beginning to trust his intuition, and when he thinks there's more to Spock than meets the eye, the seeds of friendship are sown.

[darkadria7.livejournal.com]

Land of Silver Birds By Gamin Davis

"Summary: Sequel to "City on the Edge of Forever", based on the original Ellison ending, wherein Kirk reluctantly accepts Spock's offer to take him back to Vulcan on leave; in addition to helping Kirk overcome his grief over Edith Keeler, Spock must deal with his own feelings of guilt--and the mental bond that's beginning to form between them."- this is the summary the author gave. It is mostly from Spock's view and deals with his past. I basically would recommend it if you want deep internal struggle with a satisfying ending that is hard won.

http://www.thyla.com/land-of-silver-birds.html

Also you would most likely enjoy the All-Ages K/S site archive

http://www.thyla.com/stories.html

I'm a little late to this party but . . .

[xfphile.livejournal.com]

. . . you might try these sites, if you haven't already (copied and pasted because I suck at coding).

ScotPress: http://www.scotpress.co.uk/story_archive/index_by_story.html
Orion Press: http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/archives.htm
Istannor's Site (this has gen and slash): http://istannor.tripod.com/Stardust.html
Gloria's fic: http://www.arigol.plus.com/starindh.htm
multiple authors: http://www.sttos.net/sttos/eng/fiction.php

Hope these help. Enjoy (and remember to see to those annoying RL needs, like eating and sleeping)!