The Longest Night

Fanfiction
Title:	The Longest Night
Author(s):	Kay Wells
Date(s):	1994
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
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The Longest Night is a K/S story by Kay Wells.

art by DEW for "The Longest Night"

It was published in the print zine First Time #39.

Summary

"When Spockʼs 2 months on a research project becomes 6, Kirk volunteers for the opening when a member is injured."

Reactions and Reviews

1994

Kirk follows Spock to a research station on an ice planet. Their intended stay is for about 2 months during a 75 day winter of no sun. The quarters are extremely close and cramped which brings about a change in attitude and habits for Kirk as he deals with the claustrophobic surroundings.

The most interesting aspect of this story is Kirk and Spock's role reversal. Usually, it's Spock who doesn't fit in, who feels the outsider, who is an alien wherever he goes, especially on the Enterprise. Here, in the scientific surroundings, even in such closeness to others in daily life, he fits in perfectly, adapting with ease. When Kirk arrives, he feels like the stranger instead.

An especially good scene was the workout in the gym where Kirk witnesses Spock getting a massage. The author did a fine job of showing an aloof and atypical Vulcan through Kirk's eyes. But then Spock's aloofness begins to be a bit much. I understand this might have been the author's intent, to show from K's POV that he was on the outside and Spock was on the inside, but it was difficult to accept this characterization of Kirk as precariously weak and ineffectual and Spock as a cold bastard. So for most of the story, Kirk spends his time being frustrated, bored, dulled, annoyed, depressed and generally out-of-sorts.

Pan of the problem for me was the sense of lethargy that the author painstakingly created translated itself to my enjoyment of the story. Stories certainly don't need to always be fun, but I felt so held at a distance from Kirk and Spock that I almost didn't recognize them. And just as they didn't look forward to a long night, neither did I.

One question: How is it after a freezing water, nude dipping party, and being immersed in sub-zero water only to emerge out into an equally freezing night, do the men have "partial erections'?

Then after alt the non-communication, a complete lack of any mutual insights, and total mis-understanding, they easily have sex.

Perhaps if the characters had gained some insights instead of just enduring the hardships, the reader could have gotten more out of the story. I remember in 'Blue Courage" one of my all-time favorite K/S stories and written by Ms. Wells, Kirk and Spock endured terrible difficulties, but found that their love transcended all. Some of that in this would be good.