Mirror Image (Star Trek: TOS story by Anna Parrish)

Fanfiction
Title:	Mirror Images
Author(s):	Anna Parrish
Date(s):	1990
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Mirror Image is a K/S story by Anna Parrish. It has the subtitle: "A Time for Friendship."

It was published in the print zine Naked Times #24.

Summary

"A/U: A nine year old Kirk is adopted by Sarek and Amanda when a 13 year old Spock brings the boy home with him after the death of Kirkʼs mother."

Reactions and Reviews

1990

This was a very alternate universe story, being about Kirk and Spock having grown up together (starting when they were 7 and 11 years, respectively) on Vulcan, dealing with awakening sexuality at adolescence, and then trying to work together on the Enterprise as adults with repressed feelings. The characters, for the most part, were quite a bit different from the Kirk and Spock I know, but I think most of the differences could be justified by the dissimilarity in upbringing from what I assume was experienced by the characters in 'real' Trek. This story was a fast-moving, smooth read, but I did come across a few inconsistencies that made me stop and pause. In general, I wasn't sure what Vulcans were supposed to be like in this alternate universe. There are references to their being non-emotional and logical, yet Spock's behavior -- laughing often while in the presence of Kirk, playfully hitting Kirk with a pillow, etc. — indicated otherwise. On page 22, Amanda says, "I love you, Spock", to which Spock replies, "And I you." Yet, on page 30, we are told that "Kirk wanted Spock's love, but realized Vulcans were incapable of that emotion." Later, on the Enterprise, Kirk tells McCoy, "... all Vulcans are stiff and stern." Yet, Spock runs such a lax ship that he has to remind the Kirk and McCoy while planetside that, "We have come down to work, not play." That was another problem I had with the latter stages of the story: the way everyone was overly playful and nonchalant. In fact, Kirk behaved more childishly as a Starfleet officer than he did as a child. Finally, I was more than a little surprised when, on page 53, Spock tells Kirk, "I am now aware that the love I had for you was never the love of one brother to another, or of a friend to a friend." This implication that Spock's feelings for Kirk were romantic all along is not only a contradiction to the story's title, but also disturbing in that it indicates sexual attraction existed when they first met and were only children. One other problem I had — a pet peeve of mine — was that they went through so many years with Kirk being cold toward Spock to cover his feelings. Though, actually, in this story the misunderstanding made more sense than in most stories, as Kirk and Spock had been raised as brothers, and certainly the incest taboo was there. I thought it interesting the way McCoy was presented as a female character. For me, it worked, as the mannerisms were still the same. I also liked the way that their sex play was obviously on the level of friends, rather than as serious lovers. It fit them. Also Kirk's refusal to go any further until the situation was resolved so he could be sure of what he was feeling. Great story!

I don't know if some pages were out of sequence or not. but there's no transition from the 15 year old Kirk sharing sex with Spock to the hesitancy of Spock to speak to Kirk about sex. There has to be some explanation for Spock's withdrawal, his total lack of awareness of Kirk's love, The only thing offered is that Spock had been away at school and the return had strained their relations. I also can't conceive of Spock being so unaffected by the sexual encounters. I keep thinking there's some part of the story that's missing.