Pairing: Kirk x Spock

Genre: AU/AR, friendship, pre-slash, romance, slash, general

Rating: T (PG-13), miiiiiiight turn into an M (NC-17) story. I'll give proper warning should this be the case.

Warnings: My very first Trek story, English isn't my first language, it isn't beta read (so beware of typos and some grammar errors), it is an AU/AR with the characters of the Star Trek 2009 movie.

Summary: "Spock joins Starfleet to explore his human-side, and in his search he finds…Jim Kirk, the very definition of Human."

A/N: It's a kind of an "if Spock had noticed Kirk instead" thing for the 2009 movie, so in this, Uhura isn't mentioned straight away in Spock's Academy days because...well, Kirk was around this time.

Right Here, Drop the World

1. Beginnings

He was new here, and it was painfully obvious. It did not make much rational sense to still view him as an anomaly, even after three months. However, despite his half-human heritage he was still half-Vulcan, and in the eyes of the Starfleet Academy, he was more of the latter than the former. It was a strange change of perspective from his previous life on Vulcan, where instead his humanity was under the glare of constant observation.

Although such behavior in response to his mixed heritage was not new to him, the lack of restraint these humans displayed was. It made him wonder how his mother had ever managed; how much had she sacrificed to a people that would somehow find a way to look down upon her regardless of her actions? She had often told him he was much like his father; with a sharp intellect and a certain preference for ploomeek soup. However, in this instance, Spock wanted to be more like his mother. He would never sacrifice the Vulcan way of life he had grown up to, but he would, indeed, not stop to seek out the human ways all the same. Was that not why he was finally here, at Starfleet? Was that not what had finally made the decision so clear to him?

He would learn of these humans, like his mother had learned Vulcans. Not in PADDs and electronic libraries and research, but first-hands. He was, after all, aiming to become a Science Officer. What better way to follow this up, than by go exploring the unknowns already surrounding him?

This was how he found himself at a local nightclub, a few of his fellow classmates having extended an invitation that he had, for the first time, accepted much to their mutual confusion but very noticeable delight. He didn't need to come in contact with their skin to realize their intentions; being so used to the sometimes, in their logical execution, undeniably cruel attempts from his Vulcan peers he knew from experience they would try to provoke him. He had never understood why this was necessary, to seek proof of a lack of control every being possessed at some point or another when pushed enough. Vulcan logic, his mother had confirmed to him, was not always very logical.

Declining another offer to 'buy him a drink', Spock observed as his companions rapidly became more intoxicated. They had left him 1.352 hours ago for the dance floor and a group of aesthetically agreeable females. He did not mind, but took his time observing this strange kind of 'fun' humans seemed so eager to participate in during weekends. It took him a while to realize he was being watched, rather unrelentingly.

Across the bar, he met with a pair of intense eyes, their color hard to place in the strange light of the room. It had to be a light color; grey, green or perhaps blue. Raising a brow in silent question, he observed the young man who grinned widely in response before making his way over to Spock. It would seem as if he took the acknowledgement of his attention as a cue to initiate conversation, or perhaps another offer of a glass of sweetened alcohol.

"Hi there, you don't look the sort to haunt this kind of place. What's up?" was the human's greeting, making him raise another brow. He had studied the vast culture surrounding this activity humans named 'clubbing', and come across the 'pick-up lines'. He wasn't sure if this was what the man was saying, and decided to let it be in favor of collecting more data.

"I am here on invitation from my peers," he explained and paused, slightly hesitantly adding; "And you?" In what he hoped was the correct response in such a situation. It earned him another grin, which was, Spock mused, quite agreeable. It made the man even more aesthetically pleasing, which he had noted was something to take notice of in situations like these.

"Not very close, are you? Hate to break it to you, but they're probably messing with you man," the human needlessly pointed out, but before Spock could comment on this he continued. "And me? I was just hanging around."

This earned him a confused expression that seemed to be funny in some way, because the young man started laughing. Spock did not see the humor in someone hanging in the room, with the aid of ropes or magnetic fields, he did not know. "Sorry! I forgot; you're half-Vulcan, right? It's just an illogical idiom. Means I'm at a place not doing anything interesting or of value. At least, up until now."

Spock accepted the explanation, although he could not quite comprehend what the human meant by his last comment. Another illogical turn of phrase, perhaps. However, something else needed clarification. "You said I was half-Vulcan. How were you in the possession of this knowledge? Have we met before?" He highly doubted they had, with his impeccable memory a human male with such curious, illogical charisma would not have gone unnoticed.

"No, we haven't met before," the young man clarified, grinning in a way Spock was beginning to suspect was his 'trademark'. He knew he would recognize it anywhere. "However, you're quite famous around here. I hang around lots of clubs and bars; the population of cadets and Starfleet personnel around here is quite high, so I bump into them a lot. It's quite an honor to meet you, actually, after all the stories I've heard."

Spock stiffened, turning his gaze away at those words. Again, with the illogical desire to provoke an emotional response from—

"—whatever you're thinking, it's wrong," the man interrupted, sounding strangely serious, and when he met his gaze he was surprised to see that he was, indeed, rather serious. Spock raised an eyebrow at that, causing the man to smile, once again.

"How can you sound so sure of such a thing, when you do not have access to my thoughts?" Spock enquired, slightly bemused.

"Bones calls it the Kirk factor," the man said, appearing serious again yet his eyes held a rather illogical twinkle that suggested it was somewhat questionable. "It's unsuspecting, illogical, against all odd and a huge contradiction all in one. A quite juicy mix."

Spock did not comprehend. "I am not familiar with this…Kirk factor, nor was I aware that bones could engage in conversation to convey such a thing."

He laughed out loud, genuine enjoyment present as he clasped Spock's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze that brought with it a pleasant sweep of positive emotions. It startled Spock, who had held his shield up at maximum in this crowded space. He did not expect anything to even scratch at the surface.

"Speaking of Bones, he's gonna kill me if I don't let him find me to 'engage' in some 'conversation'," the human said at last, still grinning. Spock blinked, wondering what he'd missed.

"You…are referring to a person?" he sought to clarify but the human's attention was already caught by something over his shoulder. Spock resisted the illogical desire to frown.

"Sorry, got to go gorgeous!" the young man apologized, smiling appealingly before starting to move away.

"I did not catch your name," Spock said before he could think it through, hastily dropping his hand from where it had gripped the human's elbow.

"Don't worry, plenty of time for that," was his reply, followed by a wink and a rather quirky grin that most likely had some illogical human label he did not know of yet. The many different definitions of smiles would take a long time to go through, but he wondered if perhaps it would be beneficial when dealing with such an animated race as humans. They smiled a lot, after all.

By now, the human was gone in the vast crowd and Spock wondered what had transpired. He did not have enough data to speculate, but there was something suggesting that this was something unusual.

He decided to look up the Kirk factor in Starfleet's rather impressive databanks.

ooo

Spock eyed the pieces before raising his gaze to meet clear, blue eyes. James T. Kirk was occupying the opposite chair in the café, inspecting their finished game of chess with an amused smile tugging at his lips.

"We're quite ruthless, aren't we?" Kirk observed, finally meeting his gaze. Spock titled his head in thought, reaching out to take a sip of his tea.

"I believe our style would seem so in the eyes of others, but with our different strategies it is quite logical. I am precise, calculated, while you proceed without much thought and illogical moves. Our game does not allow hesitance."

Kirk grinned, leaning back and nodding in agreement. "I guess when you put it like that…Anyway, what time is it? Aren't you due back to the Academy yet?"

"Not for another 27.45 minutes," Spock replied, moving to pick up the chess and put it away. "Have you considered my suggestion yet, Mr. Kirk?"

The human rolled his eyes, sighing. "Jim, for God's sake Spock, it's Jim! We're friends, aren't we? Anyway, no, I don't see the point on considering something I've already said no to three times already. I told you I don't like Starfleet."

"I apologize, Jim," Spock said, still finding the concept of 'friends' quite new even if it had been a month and fifteen days since Kirk – Jim – began their acquaintance. Perhaps he should not have judged Starfleet so hard on adjusting to his half-Vulcan presence, when he himself found himself so fascinated by a single human on a planet filled with them. "However, I do not believe you have given the possibility of joining Starfleet the proper thought. Your reasoning is compromised by emotions; there is little to be lost in the face of everything you would gain, if you applied this upcoming term."

"You know, Spock," Jim began, pausing to smile and sigh; a strange contradiction that among many other examples seemed to be so frequent around this human it was almost a normality of its own. The Kirk factor, Jim had said. The same thing he insisted brought them together for 'an epic friendship', much to Spock's puzzlement. He was quite certain Jim knew this was not the cause, yet he seemed to equally believe in it. When Jim continued, it jolted Spock out of his inner musings with only the visible sign of his eyebrow twitching. "If you were anyone else, I'd assume you just wanted me to join to be closer to you."

Spock wondered if perhaps that might be part of the reason too, and it made him uncomfortable. He might've come here to explore his human half, but even then, he…felt that not even as a human would he have acknowledged it to anyone but himself. Not at this moment.

A sigh. "Okay Spock, I'll give it some serious thought, okay? Exploring space doesn't sound all that bad, and with my own ship, the pros would probably outweigh the cons with a few tons."

He chose to keep silent of the many flaws in Jim's reasoning, content that a full three week period of pushing he might have finally relented.

It would be interesting, to someday, not walk down the crowded corridors of Starfleet Academy alone.

ooo

A/N: Please review! :) Thank you! :D