Title: Understanding Each Other

Rating: PG-13

Chapter Summary: Captain Kirk, who has just recently become the captain of the ship, still has not taken the immediate attitude of a captain. And, quite frankly, he has a very nagging inquiry as to what's going on with his First Officer and his Communications Officer…

Disclaimer: Star Trek is obviously not mine.

Author's Note: I didn't really even try to do this in character necessarily – but if I succeeded in that at all, that's just a plus for me. Other than that, this is the first time I have written Star Trek anything, and I just had this idea that I just kind ran with.

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Although they themselves make the claim of having no emotion, Vulcans are a very emotional people. It is vital for them to suppress their emotion, otherwise a certainty of erratic and volatile emotions will overtake them. These emotions can cause Vulcans to become violently angry in an instant, which is why they live lives of rigid emotional self-control. The assumption of them being completely emotionless comes from this way of living, and (in short) is a definite lie, though a completely convincing cover.

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Swinging slowly back and forth in the captain's seat of the USS Enterprise, Captain James. T. Kirk placed four of his bony knuckles lazily beneath his chin while his elbow propped heavily on the arm rest. His ice-blue eyes stared narrowly past the thick glass window of the bridge, his left eye twitching at every neurotic 'beep' that erupted from the computer consoles placed in a strange chronological order around him. It was surprisingly quiet on the ship today, though it was only their second day in actual flight since leaving the recently-saved human planet of Earth. Their present destination was now set for some unknown planet that Kirk couldn't quite pronounce correctly, even if he wanted to, and at the rate they were traveling it was probably going to take a day or so before the Enterprise even reached it for examination. As such, things were presently calm, and pleasant, and unrelenting to any kind of attack.

Eyes threatening to patter closed, the slow hum of the bridge door sounded in the captains ears, causing him to swivel lazily around in his chair. Hand dropping from his chin, a strange feeling of – oh, he didn't even know – one could call it 'infatuation', swept momentarily through the man's body as his Communications Officer looped her way around an exiting officer, and practically danced her way into her rightful chair. The prior Starfleet cadet's image was always a sight for sore eyes, though the immediate emotion Kirk had once felt upon seeing Uhura had changed rather drastically in the past few days. Drastically, at least, was a rather partial way of naming it, when in a complete anomaly one could say; he was a bit shell-shocked from the romantic encounter he had watched his Communications Officer and (what recently became) First Officer exchange on the transport deck.

Wetting his lower lip slowly, Kirk squandered his gaze forcefully away from the long black hair that cascaded down the woman's back, penetrating his eyes onto the back of his First Officer's head instead. Oh, Spock. That pointy-eared bastard had somehow surpassed him in the last three years in catching the attention of a woman. A woman! Of all things that the half-man-half-Vulcan should have been able to surpass Kirk in, it should not have been in the affections of any sort of female entity. And just to add the icing onto the cake, it had to be the first Starfleet woman Kirk's eyes had fallen onto; Nyota Uhura. She was intelligent, undeniably attractive, and talented with her tongue – which, in Kirk's personal opinion, was useful. Spock, on the complete other hand, was not exactly what Kirk would call 'woman material'. And yet, though he thought the two were absolutely un-consonant, the Enterprise Captain couldn't help but twitch his lips into an appreciative smile at the pleasure they wrought on each other.

As if he could feel the man's eyes boring into the back of his head, Kirks First Officer snapped his head to the side as he turned in profile to half-face his captain. The pale skin of the Vulkans face flushed into a slightly greenish hue as the copper-based blood in his body sulked its way to his cheeks. His dark upswept eyebrows arched into a curious confusion that calculated only one purpose; inquiry.

Biting down on the inside of his cheek, Kirk swiveled back around to face the giant window, breaking the momentary locked-in gaze that he and his slowly-growing companionship shared. And, to clarify, his 'slowly-growing companionship' with Spock was nothing but mild trust and pent-up disagreement – which, from definition, was the beginning to every good friendship, right? Right, right, as long as Spock never found out about his 'friends' prior infatuation with what was seemingly now his 'lover'. Gulping down on a lump that formed slowly atop his Adams apple, Kirk slunk lower into his chair and let out an aggravated breath through his flared nostrils. The rushing air made an incredibly loud sound as the man adjacently buried his arms across his chest, sifting through the worry-thoughts of Uhura telling the Vulcan about their previous encounters…

"Would it be wrong of me to accuse you of having an alarmingly large number of thoughts on your mind, Captain?"

There it was, that damn inquiry. Bastard.

Curving his mouth into a smile, Kirk caved his head forward and stood from the chair as Spock's rather loudly announced question rang around the room. Some of the crew adorning the bridge raised their heads from their presence of business, just to get a quick glance at their captain as if they had all been wondering the same thing, silently. Circling the captain's chair, pausing to stare at the arm while consider making some sort of shipboard announcement as to avoid the immediate question, Kirk made his way carefully towards his First Officer's seated silhouette. Blue eyes staring incredulously down upon him, his reply still impervious, Kirk stood a few feet before the Vulcans' chair and motioned towards the doors with the nod of his head. "Take a break with me."

Looking slightly confused, but not about to refuse orders from his captain, Spock stood abruptly and followed Kirk from the room with hardly an audible sound. When they stood shoulder to shoulder in the silent elevator, doors whirring shut before them, the Vulkan finally turned his head slowly towards Kirk and duplicated the eyebrow raise from before. "Why are we taking a leave of absence, Captain?"

"You and me have been in that room for hours, Spock." Kirk said simply, placing his hands behind his back in a very acute posture, taking a few quick steps into the hallway as the doors re-opened. Spock's eyes twitched for a nanosecond at the non-formality his captain took to the matter, though it was something he somehow realized he would have to get used to. "Besides, there are things we need to cover."

"As in discuss?"

"Yes. Discuss."

Refraining from performing some sort of childish irritation, like rolling his eyes, Kirk noted the bland and obvious issue they would probably be facing for years as they attempted to work things out; understanding each other. Though, in all hopes, perhaps the Vulkan would catch on rather quickly, being half-human and all. As the two made their way swiftly down the hall, shadowing each other in a direct march that they had absentmindedly taken habit of doing during their years of being cadets, the crew members scattered about the ship would each drop what they were doing to properly salute the duo. Feet tapping loudly against the polished floor and echoing into absence down the winding hallway, Kirk finally halted before what had just recently become his new quarters. Pausing only momentarily to allow the doors to rush open, Kirk walked swiftly inward and waited patiently for Spock to follow, though it took the Vulcan a few seconds to realize he was actually allowed inside.

When the doors shut quickly behind them, the captain made no hesitation in crossing the floor to a small desk where he plopped himself comfortably into, placing his elbows atop the counter. "Spock, I want to talk to you about Uhura."

Hesitance.

Blinking back what must have been a flood of confusion, the pale-faced Vulkan puffed his chest outward and parted his lips softly. "What is it that you would like to discuss about Lieutenant Uhura?"

Palms flattening onto the table, Kirk shifted his weight uncomfortably in his chair. "You didn't want to talk about it before. I think, being your captain, it's necessary I know where you two are – romantically."

Again, hesitation.

As if he was in a deep muse of thought, winding his way through a terribly messy maze, Spock stood very still with slow-wandering eyes that bounced off of everything except for Kirk's face. Finally, seeming that he had grasped onto something that made at least an ounce of sense to him, he took a steady yet very strong step forward and bowed his head. "You are correct. It is your responsibility to know everything about your closest in command. Uhura and I are engaged."

"Engaged?" Kirk stammered quickly, fumbling all over himself for a suit of words that just didn't seem to accumulate in his mouth. Instead, he found it best to just repeat himself. "Engaged!?"

"Yes, Captain." The calm diabolic of his tone drove Kirk into a fit of anger that he absolutely refused to show, recalling the time he had caused Spock to 'lose his cool' about two weeks prior to the present date. Engaged to Uhura? Pointy eared bastard!

Controlling his spastic impulse, Kirk shook his head lightly and stood from the desk, pressing his fingers firmly to his temple. "So you two are getting married?"

Now it was Spock's turn to look shocked. "Married, Captain?"

"Yes, Married! That's what you do after you get engaged!" Kirk said, calmly, but with a very obvious hint of frustration. They both stood in silence for what had to be the longest five minutes of Kirks life, each staring each other down in a notably enthusiast matter.

"Forgive me," Spock started finally, an amused smile starting to creep upon his lips, fashioning his pale face with a disgustingly handsome appeal. "I had momentarily forgotten the phrases of humans – I simply meant we are infatuated with one another. Engaged, you see."

Jaw doing a series of push-ups, Kirk sat slowly back down into his seat, staring at the Vulcan in surprise. The amused look on the pale half-human's face made him slightly aggravated, yet at the same time, made him feel rather silly himself. A rough chuckle tumbled from the captains lips finally as he let the relief flood over him, and he leaned against the back of his seat, a heavy breath escaping from the barricade of his chest. "Alright, well." He started again, catching hold of his breath and lulling his neck back and forth. "Don't let your emotions get in the way of your work here, Spock."

"Vulkans have no emotions, Captain." Spock corrected him simply, shrugging his narrow shoulders quickly into the air.

Kirk opened his mouth to argue, recalling yet again the image of Spock slamming him roughly into a computer council and practically crushing the pathway of air to his heart as his pale hands grasped tightly around the man's neck. It had been one of the most unpleasant fights Kirk had ever gotten himself into, and it was one he hoped not to re-visit any time soon – at least now that his head was in the right place, and he was aware of the fact that his Officers were not engaged. So, instead of arguing the matter any further, he simply gnawed down on his tongue and chuckled again, gleaming in his eyes. "Well, humans do."

"You will not see any emotional encounters between us, Captain." Spock said again. If Kirk was not mistaken, he could almost sense a hint of irritation tainting the sounds that rolled off of the Vulcans tongue, but he did not wish to press that matter either.

"Oh damn. You mean I don't get to watch you two exchange saliva again?" Kirk inquired, a smile threatening the corners of his mouth.

Exhaling quickly, Spock turned slightly towards the door and gestured towards the exit with an opened hand. "Request to return to my station, Captain?"

Tossing the question around under his golden head of hair, the Enterprise captain turned his tongue inside of his mouth in a contumelious fashion. Finally, after he felt he had let the Vulcan suffer long enough in the painful silence, he nodded his chin to his chest. "Request granted." Spock, before slipping swiftly from the room, shot the captain one last look of - what was it, 'pissed-off-ness'?

Pointy eared bastard.

Blue eyes staring after the Vulcan, full of amusement, Kirk waited until the doors shut him to his lonely encasement, where he then burst into a guffaw of laughter. Leaning back in the chair, throwing his feet onto the desk, the captain smiled in contentment as his hands intertwined lazily behind his neck. As long as he didn't have to watch their love affair, he wouldn't have to worry about a bubbling sensation of angst and jealously churn inside of his emotions. That would be pleasant enough for him; and besides, if he pretended as if nothing was going on between them, he could still fantasize about things that would simply never be.

Now, if only he and Spock could get their understandings of each other a bit more under control, things might run more smoothly. Oh, all in good time…

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Review if you want. :)
This was something I just threw together in like a half an hour or so. I just really was bored, and it was simple to me, and I kinda laughed. Haaa, live life to the fullest.