And You May Tell Yourself - Chapter One
THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL HOUSE. THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE.
Months and months ago, I put out a call for prompts on my Star Trek sideblog. I got several, wrote a few, and then one of the people on the spones discord server I'm in-- unwitting of what she wrought-- said "spones + dopplegangers." And I thought about it, and I had an idea for a scene, and then I thought about what circumstances could lead to that scene, and finally I realized, "Oh, that could totally work for a rewrite of The Man Trap," which is an episode of TOS that I personally adore.
...so I started writing that. 10k and the first 5 minutes of the episode later, I realized that this project was, perhaps, a little larger than I had intended to bite off. "Maybe 35k words at max," I told myself. That estimate jumped to 40k... and then to 50k... and, finally, I wrapped up this story at over 67,000 words, the longest piece of fiction of any kind that I have ever written, with the most ambitious plotline I have ever attempted. I am, to be quite frank, exhausted.
I am also incredibly proud, and oh so excited to finally be sharing this fic with you.
This fic does NOT follow the plotline of the episode beat for beat-- those of you who are familiar with The Original Series, you may already know the major twist in terms of the murder mystery (...or do you?), but I promise there's enough new and original content here to keep your attention. And for those of you who may not remember the episode or have simply never seen it, you don't need to worry either-- the plotline is fully encapsulated within the fic.
This is, as listed in the tags and addressed in the original prompt, a spones fic-- but those friendship tags aren't just there for show! There's a well rounded cast to this fic, heavy on the medical staff, and including a variety of OCs who I am already VERY excited to continue using to flesh out the casts of my other fics. I love a good OC. (There are no familiar faces on that count, for those of you who've read any of my past work, except for an offhand mention of Lieutenant Givens. However, once you get to meet them, I think we'll all agree that Aylu, Lonna, and Kip are instant classics.)
This fic is 7 chapters, and I intend to continue editing and posting every Friday until they finish. I'm shoehorning it in as my Summer of Spones entry, as 1) it was the mod of the event who gave me the original prompt (thank you A-Chan!), 2) there's one scene where Bones talks about summer thunderstorms, and 3) the writing of this fic stretched from May to August, quite effectively providing yours truly with my own personal Summer of Spones.
The stunning, incredible, amazing, SUPERB artwork for this fic has been brought to you by AutumnInAprilArt (spones-in-my-bones).
Fuck, y'all. This is going to be a fun one.
"I'm ignoring the effects that all of you jackasses have on my delicate psyche," he said, pointing his spoon at her emphatically, "because I am determined that today is going to be a good day."
"Don't jinx us," Jim joked. He looked up as Spock approached, sliding his tray over to make room for him, and dumped another packet of sugar onto his grapefruit.
Leonard rolled his eyes, but he didn't comment. His own tray of food was a good handful of centimeters past the centerline of the table, but he didn't bother to move it; Spock could nudge it out of the way with his own if it was in his way. "I'd say 'Good morning, Mr. Spock,' but apparently it's illegal for me to be cheerful before oh-nine-hundred."
Spock arched an eyebrow. "I'm unfamiliar with that regulation, Doctor."
Leonard grinned, his good cheer returning in full with Spock's ever-stoic sarcasm, and he was pretty sure that was a glitter of amusement in Spock's eyes, too. He looked away before he could get caught staring; that didn't mean he missed the way Spock's gaze lingered for a moment before he looked down to cut one of his multi-color protein cubes into neat quarters with his fork.
"It was part of the vows we took when we became best friends, actually," Jim said, straight-faced. "If Bones turns into a morning person, I get the dog in the divorce."
READ THE REST OF CHAPTER ONE HERE
