Work Text:
Bedtime
by Farfalla the Butterfly-Kitten
"Let's make up a fairy tale about Spock the sailor and Jim the mermaid."
"Merman."
"What?"
"Jim would be a merman, not a mermaid."
"So Spock's a sailor, but an intellectual--one of those naturalist types. He stays in his cabin and studies beetles and reads while the rest of the sailors are off on deck drinking and singing chanteys about prostitutes."
"Indeed."
"And Spock's the only one who knows there are male mermaids, but none of the other sailors believe him."
"I have an alternative suggestion--the other sailors are frightened of mermaids, because according to naval legend, mermaids lure sailors to their deaths during shipwrecks."
"But Spock's not afraid?"
"He is not."
"So where will they live? Does Spock come down to the bottom of the sea, or does Jim sprout legs? Or maybe they can live some kind of amphibious existence."
"With an aqua-lung."
"An aqua-lung? I thought this was a fairy tale."
"It is more of a bedtime story."
"Is it bedtime already?"
"Put that away. It is bedtime."
"No round two?"
"Not unless you wish to begin your night of sleep with a neck pinch."
"But I'm so cute! Am I not the cutest captain--"
"You are not logical--the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner it will be morning, when I will be rested."
"Morning--ahhh.... I get it. Goodnight, Spock."
"Goodnight, Jim."
end