Gambling
A/N: Kid!fic, slightly AU. ST:XI.
Disclaimer: Kirk, Spock, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are their own people. I'm just... borrowing them.
Summary: Kirk makes a bet with Spock. Spock makes good on it.
The two children were secreted behind a tall palm, watching the reception unfold from behind the drooping green fronds. "One day," the blonde one informed his companion in a loud whisper, "That'll be me."
His friend looked down at him impassively. "Diplomacy, Jim?" he asked, surprise quirking one eyebrow up to the fringe of his black hair.
"Captain," he corrected, grinning at the expression of ill-disguised disbelief on Spock's face. "Like my dad." There was a hint of sadness in his voice, quickly supplanted with anger when he spoke again. "Frank says I can't do it. He says that I'm not good enough." Blue eyes burned furiously, shining in the half-light of the alcove.
"But I will! I'll show him! I'll be the best captain ever," he vowed, speaking more to himself than to Spock. Then he turned on his friend, face alight with a fervour the half-Vulcan had rarely seen. "I bet you I will," he said solemnly. It was a phrase he had recently picked up from Sam. "I bet you."
Spock looked down at the outstretched Human hand. "The number of unpredictable variables in your proposed course of action make a wager... illogical," he stated calmly, hands firmly behind his back.
Jim's face fell, and his familiar scowl emerged. "You're just as bad as Frank," he spat out bitterly. "Nobody thinks I can do it." The dejected tone of his friend's voice surprised Spock. His hand, almost of its own accord, found itself shaking that of his Human companion. "Very well," he conceded. "What are the terms of your wager?"
The other boy grinned. "Chocolate," he decided happily. "But good chocolate, not the disgusting replicated stuff." He pulled a face at the thought of the bland, synthesised confectionary.
Spock nodded sagely. "Then I accept."
:KS:
Spock rose from his station to greet the captain as he stepped from the turbolift. He looked nervous, but smiled at the half-Vulcan as he passed.
The shift passed uneventfully, the space they were passing through miraculously having managed to comply with the data from their scanners.
Jim fell into his desk chair, exhausted but immeasurably relieved. He desperately hoped that the first day was the worst. Tomorrow would, surely, be easier? A buzz at the door shook him from his worried introspection. "Captain."
The cool voice was reassuring after the frenzied hours of praying that he wouldn't do something stupid. "Spock," Jim smiled, turning the face his friend. "Did you want something?" he asked, when Spock failed to respond.
Choosing his words carefully, he said, "15.78 years ago, you made me a wager. I have come to fulfil its terms." He held out one hand from behind his back, an oblong package held gently in front of him. Jim took it curiously, peeling back the outer paper to reveal a sumptuously wrapped bar of chocolate.
Squinting up at his friend, he asked, "Replicated?" The corner of Spock's mouth twitched up slightly as he replied. "Of course not, captain. You made quite clear your feelings on replicated chocolate. This is from an acquaintance on Earth who owed me a favour. I once saved his life," he added, at the questioning look from Jim.
The captain opened his mouth in surprise, intending to ask more, but the feeling of slightly melting chocolate in his palm changed his mind. Instead he grinned up at Spock. "And you said betting was illogical." Spock examined the now-unburdened expression of his friend and decided that being proven wrong was worth it.