Kirk/Spock (AOS)

This article is about the AOS slash ship. For the TOS counterpart see Kirk/Spock and for other uses of the term, see Kirk/Spock.

Pairing
Pairing:	Kirk/Spock
Alternative name(s):	Spirk, Space Husbands, K/S, Spork, Kock
Gender category:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek (2009)
Canonical?:	No
Prevalence:	Most common pairing in the fandom
Archives:	The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive
Other:	Kirk/Spock Wikipedia Article I Want You To Ruin My Life graphics by s-insomnia (2019)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Kirk/Spock is one of the main pairings in the reboot Star Trek fandom. However, it is not as dominant a pairing as Kirk/Spock were in Star Trek (TOS) fandom; both the new Kirk and the new Spock are frequently paired with other characters.

While Kirk/Spock are best friends in the original series, they start out with a different dynamic in Star Trek (2009). One of TPTB jokingly describes it as a love story but he is not far off from how Kirk/Spock fans interpreted the relationship between the characters in the movie:

This first movie is just a love story between Spock and Kirk. It has all the beats of a romantic comedy where they meet, they don't get along, they totally hate each other, and then they get into a situation where they kind of need each other, and by the end Spock walks onto the bridge and he's like, 'Let's fuck!'

Common Tropes and Storylines in Fanworks

Kirk/Spock fanworks range from serious to cracky, and are reusing and reinvigorating many of the tropes first commonly used in K/S (TOS) fanworks.

• Mindmeld: their shared mind meld gave them them feelings
• Spock Prime: TOS Spock meddling and trying to get the pair together
• Alternate First Meeting: them meeting as kids/teenagers
• AUs: including Movie Fusions, and other realities
• TOS Episodes: rebooting TOS episodes with AOS Kirk and Spock, a particular favourtie is Amok Time
• Pon Farr: Spock going into Pon Farr and Kirk helping him through it, this will sometimes also involve a feelings reveal, but sometimes is just PWP
• Aliens Made Them Do It: another classic Trek trope where Aliens force them into sexual situations
• Mpreg: usually with Kirk being the one impregnated

Fanworks

Fanfiction

• Almost Domestic by barrowjane (curtainfic?) (2009)
• Atlas by Angel Baby1. (popular longfic on FF.net) (2009-2010)
• A Beautiful(ly Illogical) Mind by waldorph, AU, partly fusion with Good Will Hunting. (2009)
• Home by Lanaea. A WIP that is a popular lengthy fic on FF.net (2009)
• Leave No Soul Behind by whochick, AU (or rather, Alternate Reality) in which Kirk, Spock, and most of the rest of the Enterprise's crew wind up in the Federation's Emergency Personnel Ambulance Service, a search-and-rescue operation semi-independent from Starfleet (because Starfleet kind of sucks). In the end Kirk and Spock are still the only hope of the Federation in the fight against Nero, it just takes 260,000 words, epic space battles, politics, and amazing character development to get them there. (2010-2011)
• Looking for a Place to Happen by wakestosleep, AU in which the Vulcans conquered Earth for its own (rational, repressed, non-violent) good, and Kirk and Spock (naturally) run away to be space pirates. (2009)
• Love is Strange by garryowen, AU/fusion with Dirty Dancing, written for the Star Trek Big Bang 2009.
• Observations by anon_j_anon, AOS/TOS convergence fic in which the crew set out on their five-year mission immediately after the events of the Narada. Spock's first-hand accounts of the Enterprise's five-year mission detail how the Enterprise's crew the stuff of legends. Super-epic, 262 chapters ~400,000 words. (2009)
• Of Sentinels and Anchors by corpus_invictus, AU in which virgin!Spock never learns to control his telepathy or feelings but medically suppresses them (until Kirk starts acting as a mood stabilizer or anchor) and then one time huddling for warmth while trapped with Kirk, he goes into Pon Farr. (2009)
• Of Twin Stars and Other Eccentric Satellites by misswinterhill, action/adventure story written for the 2011 Star Trek Reverse Bang.
• On Restless Pinions by what_alchemy. "When Stonn goes into pon farr, T'Pring must break her bond with Spock, which has unforeseen consequences." Details Spock's experience growing up on Vulcan, his bonding with T'Pring, and his burgeoning relationship with Kirk, written for Star Trek Big Bang 2011.
• Once Upon a Time (A Fairy-Tale Love Story) by littlebirdtold. Alternate realities—one without the Federation and one in which Spock is a Vulcan royal—collide, and end up with Kirk as a pretty princess. (2010)
• Only Good for Legends by leupagus, AU where Detective Spock, born on Vulcan and resident of San Francisco, is assigned to the Midwest police bureau, where he meets (and slowly falls for) Kirk. (2009-2010)
• The Prophecy of Apollo by ladyblahblah - WIP - Ancient Vulcan AU in which space mercenary Kirk willy-nilly becomes consort to Spock, son of the warlord Sarek. (2010)
• Stars Apart, Shine the Same by sineala, Spock Prime mindmeld issues. (2009)
• So Wise We Grow by Deastar, kidfic written for Star Trek Big Bang 2009.
• Streetlight People by ladyblahblah, hookerfic written for Star Trek Big Bang 2010.
• strive seek find yield by waldorph, amazingly successful royalty AU fusion with The Young Victoria, written for Star Trek Big Bang 2010.
• Through Blind Men's Eyes by ladyblahblah, bodyswap fic with bonus Pon Farr.
• Veritas (Star Trek story) by TheProblematique Captain James T. Kirk and Lieutenant Commander Spock are hereby charged with negligence and wanton misconduct due to their emotional compromise with each other. And therefore placed on trial. Interesting incorporation of TOS canon into the story. (2010-2012)
• You'll Get There in the End (It Just Takes a While) (Pon Farr story) and its epic sequel War Games by Seperis. The Federation and the Romulan Empire have been on the verge of war for what sometimes feels like forever; this is the place where what passes for peace might end.
• Turnabout Intruder by xcourtney_chaoticx, The Enterprise is called to the scientific outpost on Camus II to rescue a pair of archaeologists whose team was decimated by a mysterious disease... or were they? It might just be a trap set by one of them, Janice Lester, to get the one she always wanted and felt she had been unjustly denied: a Starfleet captaincy. (Turnabout Intruder Reboot - 2014)

Vids

• The Test by heresluck visually recreates a common trope in Reboot K/S fic, where Kirk accidentally learns about his alternate self's future relationship with Spock during the mindmeld on Delta Vega.
• Pokerface by talitha78
• Sleeping with Ghosts by Butterfly
• Must Be Dreaming by Bluefairy1113
• Pieces by DarlaPr0duction
• Forget by DarlaPr0duction
• We Are One by Kradashi
• Radar by bionic1013

Fanart

• Blind Sensation by latenightarting (Mirrorverse, companion artwork to the story Speaking in Tongues by Kairi)
• Haunted by cirrocumulus
• Illogical Response by lizardspots
• Mind Meld by jou
• Thermogenesis by latenightarting, illustration for the K/S epic Observations by jAnon
• Strip Chess by trolleys
• you couldn't pronounce it. - a 2009 Kirk/Spock Star Trek: AOS doujinshi

Fanzines

• Universal Constant (e-zine) 2011~
• This Simple Feeling (zine) 2017~

Audiofic

• Spork! An Erotic Love Story by cirrocumulus & jiaren_shadow. The Star Trek audiobook edited together in such a way as to make it sound like Kirk and Spock are having sex. 3:16 minutes of Zachary Quinto (Spock in Star Trek XI) reading explicit K/S fiction. Sort of.

Example Art Gallery

• 

  Dreaming, manip by arminaa

• 

  Art from Логика сердца by oxxi (2017)

Kirk/Spock Prime

Some fans ship reboot!Kirk with the (original, TOS) alternate timeline Spock from the future, commonly referred to as "Spock Prime". This name distinction between TOS!Spock and AOS!Spock generated a lot of fan discussion, with some really enthusiastic about the term Spock Prime and others strongly dissatisfied with its use, even feeling excluded when they read the name in the fanworks they find.

This disapproval is likely to be part of the remarkable reluctance of some more devoted TOS fans to the trilogy by Abrams, especially when it comes to Kirk and Spock fans -- gen or slash relationship. This reluctance has led to a small split in fandom between fans!TOS and fans!AOS in some media such as communities and conventions.

An example in disagreement the use of the term was found in the Dreamwidth's post of July 21, 2009.

[ratcreature]
It drives me absolutely crazy when in ST:AOS fic the older, time-traveling Spock is called "Spock Prime" within the story text, assuming the story is told from a POV character withing the fictional universe rather than some jokey outside parody narrator or omniscient meta fiction narrator. It's fine for a pairing label, but please, please find some other way to distinguish the character from the younger Spock in the text. I am usually not that picky about narrative voice, but this just throws me out of the story in a way from which I can't recover. It's one of the few things that will just make me stop reading immediately in this fandom.

The post was quickly commented by people who shared the same thoughts as ratcreature:

[jacquez]
Wow, I'm glad I haven't run across that one yet!

[ratcreature]
Unfortunately I have been thrown out of stories in this unpleasant way several times now. It's not so bad if it happens early in a story, then I take it as an indicator that I probably won't like the rest and move on. But I've had it happen in stories in which the older Spock only appeared later on, and I was already invested in a longer story. Granted, those weren't masterpieces, but still decent enough, and I was like several thousand words into the events and wanted to know what happened, and then the other Spock appeared and I ran into this brick wall.

[ratcreature]
BTW, surpassing the awfulness of "Spock Prime" in narrative text is seeing it in actual character *dialog*, but iirc I've seen that only once so far, and that was pretty much badfic in other respects too.

[sholio]
Oh god, people actually do that? HEAD, meet DESK.

I must admit that one of the hardest things about writing multiple versions of a character is clearly identifying who's talking, and I've read some pretty clunky examples in SGA fandom. But I don't think I've ever seen anything THAT clunky.

[ratcreature]
Yes, they really do. I haven't seen it *that* often, but it wasn't just a single occurrence either.

Fanfic

• Inextricable by lunabee34, Kirk kinda misses some of what his alternate timeline version had and connects with Spock Prime.
• Endless Circle by pantswarrior, reboot!Kirk is in a relationship with reboot!Spock though not yet bonded, but when Spock Prime asks him to help him through his last Pon Farr it seems like a good idea to everyone.
• And Cried Out His Name in Joy by pervyficgirl, Kirk and Spock Prime accidentally bonded on Delta Vega and that was okay until Pon Farr hits.
• Works tagged James T. Kirk/Spock Prime at AO3

Fanart

• Meditation by jou (2009)

Resources

Communities

• kirkspock [1] LiveJournal Community. Allows both TOS and AOS fanworks.

• kirk-spock [2] Dreamwidth Community. Allows both TOS and AOS fanworks.

• spock-kirk [3] a LiveJournal Community. Allows TOS, AOS, and RPF fanworks.

Archives and Challenges

• Kirk/Spock Archive
• Kirk/Spock Advent Calendar - 2002 - 2017
• K/S Valentine - 2010–present (allows both TOS and AOS fanworks)
• K/S Big Bang - 2012 (allows TOS, AOS, and RPF fanworks)
• T'hy'la Bang (2013–present) welcomes TOS, AOS, and mirrorverse

Rec Lists

• Recs by Rhaegal
• Kirk/Spock Fic Rec Post by avictoriangirl