Title: 5 Things About the Human Race that Confuse Spock, and the 1 Thing he Takes for Granted
Rating: T (mild swearing, sexual references)
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize….unfortunately.
Summary: Title pretty much sums it up! Spock/Nyota relationship, Spock/Kirk friendship.
Spock can remember back to his early childhood on Vulcan and his mother trying to bring some of her traditions to their small family. His father always allowed Amanda to decorate the house for Christmas, dress up both males for Halloween, and although Sarek never showed it, Spock thinks that in his own stoic way Sarek found Valentine's Day quite agreeable.
One tradition that Spock never understood, however, was New Year's Eve. He didn't understand why the Earth's completion of a revolution around its star deserved a party. He remembers every time Earth was about to enter its new year, his mother would put sparkly hats on their heads and give them small things that made a loud squawking noise when you blew into one end. Of course it was never the same time of year, or even time of day, on Vulcan since its rotation and revolution was quite different than that of Earth, but he was always allowed to blow his noisemaker and taste his mother's carbonated beverage she called champagne before he was sent to bed.
Spock didn't realize, however, how…enthusiastically some humans celebrated this holiday. He had been convinced (although he wouldn't admit that) to attend the academy's New Year's Eve celebration in the mess hall by several of his students and fellow instructors. He had stood in the back corner until one of his students, a very gifted first-year xenolinguistic student named Nyota, found him and pulled him into a group of cadets. A clear glass containing a familiar fizzy fluid was thrust into his hand, and he decided is tasted just as awful now as it did when he was a child.
Spock looked at the chrono and noticed it was 15 minutes until the New Year and the excitement in the building was….building. He heard some extra loud cheering coming from the far corner and it appeared that two cadets, one of them he thought he recognized as a doctor and the other the son of the famous George Kirk, were slamming shots of something he was sure was stronger that champagne. The cheers seemed to have erupted when a third cadet had finally hit the floor.
Before he knew it someone had yelled that there was one minute left. Again, he started to question the logic of celebrating an occurrence that had been happening, without pomp and circumstance, for billions of years before humans had arrived on the planet. Suddenly he found a noise maker thrust into his free hand, this one a small metallic box on a stick that you apparently swung around in a crazy fashion above your head, or something similar.
"10…9…8…" The voices started chanting the countdown around him. He had lost track of Nyota at some point and he briefly wondered where she gone before she reappeared in his line of sight.
"5…4…3…" she was standing right in front of him and he could smell the alcohol on her breath.
"2…1…Happy New Year!" There were shouts and the sounds of noisemakers shrieking all through the room. He might have noticed everyone around him taking a partner and kissing them passionately if it hadn't been for Nyota raising up on tiptoe and kissing him lightly on the cheek. She immediately flushed and looked completely embarrassed before a couple of her classmates came and whisked her away.
Spock's lips twitched up ever so lightly on one side. Perhaps he needed to rethink this custom.
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter, and let me know if you want me to continue!