Spock cornered Kirk in a hallway, curled next to a vending machine and a knife in his hand. For one, terrifying, horrifying second, he thought Kirk was going to do something stupid, and his heart seized in his side, his breath pausing. He stopped, and Kirk looked up. He was carving something into the plastic side of the machine, and Spock took a deep breath of relief.
"What?" His tone was sharp, meant to cut. Spock ignored it and took a seat next to him.
"I am concerned about your wellbeing," he stated calmly, smoothing a crease out of his still-damp pants. Kirk paused.
"You'd be the only one." Digging deep into the side of the machine, Kirk carefully carved out a curved line.
"I highly doubt that. Christopher Pike-"
"No. Don't even go there." Spock sighed, an ache starting in his temples.
"If I do not, who will? You would not." Kirk tossed the knife to the floor, his teeth grit and eyes pained.
"Will you stop? I can't take it! I don't want you prying in my head, or, or trying to psychoanalyze me! Just-" Kirk slapped his hand against the floor, let out a short yell, and dropped his head onto Spock's shoulder. Hesitantly, Spock cupped the back of his neck with a palm.
"I apologize. I do not excel at…these things." Kirk laughed weakly.
"Yeah. Hey, uh, can I ask you a question?"
"You just have, but you may ask me another." Kirk smiled slightly, burying closer to Spock's warm body.
"Why do you carry so much shit in your bag?" Spock stiffened slightly, carding his fingers slowly through Kirk's short blonde hair.
"My home life is…unsatisfying." Kirk hummed, pressing his lips idly against the damp skin of Spock's neck.
"Everyone's home life is unsatisfying. It wouldn't be a home life if it wasn't. Why do you think people move away from their parent's?" Spock made a small noise, content.
"I suppose you are correct. But for a Vulcan…it is not normal to be so…angry." When Kirk looked up, Spock's eyebrows were pulled down, his mouth a thin, pale line. Everything about his body language screamed suppression, and it was so familiar to Kirk that he felt a dull ache in his chest, a sympathy hurt. He leaned over and pressed a brief, delicate kiss to the corner of Spock's mouth, and was surprised when Spock used the hand at the back of his neck to reel him in for a stronger kiss.
And of course, Chekov came around the corner at that moment, squealed like a pig, and quickly ducked away again. Spock broke away with an angry growl.
"Well, this is an unfortunate circumstance." Kirk snorted, squeezing Spock's hand before getting to his feet. The Vulcan followed obediently until Kirk paused, looking back at him.
"And I still want to know your human name, by the way. I'm not going to give up." Spock smiled. There was humor in Kirk's eyes again, and if the challenge of discovering Spock's human name amused him, well, he'd just make it all that more interesting.
"I would never imagine that you would. However, I believe my stubbornness is equal to yours." Kirk grinned.
"That's a challenge, then." They shook hands on it, even though Kirk used the chance to molest him. They followed Chekov's trail back to the library, Kirk hesitating at the door.
"We don't have to go back, you know. I can think of at least eight different things we could do," he suggested with a lewd quirk of the eyebrows. Spock opened the door, face deadpanned, and walked in.
Uhura has dumped her bag out in the absence of the others and is sorting her things into two piles, one for keeping and one for throwing away. The keeping pile is much smaller than the throwing away pile.
"What is it with girls and having too much shit in their purses, huh?" Kirk asks, holding up one of Uhura's hair clips. He clips it to his nose and she scowls.
"What is with you and having too many naked pictures in your wallet?" Spock asks. He has Kirk's wallet in his hands again, and is tilting his head as he stares at one picture. Kirk's hands fly to his pockets.
"When did you get that?"
"When you had your tongue in my mouth," he replies blandly, and Leonard, who's also staring at all of Uhura's things, makes a faintly sick noise and collapses off of his chair. Chekov giggles until he snorts, then blushes.
"I would really like to know why there are so many," Spock questions again, and Kirk plucks at the clip moodily.
"I don't know. I asked her first," he points at Uhura childishly. She glares up at him while she roots in the bottom of her bag.
"I don't know, I guess I just never throw anything away." Kirk grins and turns to Spock.
"And neither do I." This earns a speculative eyebrow, and he snatches his wallet back and tucks it into his underwear, then turns to Chekov.
"Might I have my illegal substance back, please?" Chekov reluctantly reached a hand into his pants and pulled out the small baggie. With a tiny mock salute and a smile, Kirk took the steps up to the second level two at a time.
It's Uhura that follows first this time, curious to a fault, and Chekov glances around before picking himself up and racing after them. Leonard watches as Spock frowns at the ugly abstract sculpture, thinking hard.
"You gonna follow him?" He asks. Spock slowly shakes his head.
"Not directly. I need a moment to meditate." He continues staring at the statue as Leonard leaves.
There's one thing circling around Spock's mind relentlessly. Kirk has made numerous sexual advances on him, though not all of them appeared serious. He has no sexual experience, and was content to think that he never would, after the death of T'Pring. And to find someone that he honestly likes, intellectually, emotionally, and if he's willing to admit it, physically, so soon after his mother's death, when he can feel the gaps and scars still fresh in his own mind…it's almost too much.
Kirk makes him curious. He is violent and abrasive, cold and cutting, warm and seductive, terrified and terrifying. He is every worst and best thing Spock has ever thought of about humanity.
Huffing a sigh, Spock closes his eyes and slowly allows the question that burns quietly in the back of his mind surface.
Would his mother like Kirk? He can't imagine that she wouldn't. There are almost no similarities between them, at least not in personality, and yet the ones that count are the ones that would unite them. Kindness, though Kirk's isn't as evident as his mother's. Warmth and blazing emotions that seize them into action, and rigorously upheld morals. He's seen, at least that much, in Kirk's mind, and suddenly he aches somewhere he can't identify. A word comes to mind, an ancient and powerful word, and he grits his teeth and breathes through his nose because no, that can't happen to him, he can't be tied down like that, even if it promises so much.
He startles when he hears them laugh, and opens his eyes to drown the hazy hurt with the physical sensation of climbing the stairs.
AN: I'm just going to say now that I'm not really so happy with this chapter. I wrote most of it while sick, so anything bad can be blamed on viruses. And to confirm pretty much everyone's suspicions: yeah, Jim's being sent to Tarsus. Buckle up for epic angst, y'all.
FallChild92: I really just wanna see if anyone can pronounce that word, first of all. I'm glad that you like this, but I must demand: WHY HAS NO ONE SEEN THE BREAKFAST CLUB? Ugh. Thanks for the review!
Matty: No. I'm purposely keeping Chekov as a minor-ish character because you will abuse him if I don't. Thanks for actually submitting a review. 3
ShadowWolfDagger: Glad that you finally watched it! Thanks for the lovely review, and sorry, but you'll have to stick to the story to figure out what Spock's human name is- it'll be in the very last chapter. XD
Letsplaypretend: I LOVE YOU TOO. Your reviews remind me of my own, XD. AND I DON'T KNOW HOW I DO IT, BUT I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT! And as for Jim: as I understand him, he's really uber frustrated and angry by this point. And Len keeps pushing and pushing and so he snaps, and all of his frustration kind of vents out like that. Anger and vindication and spitting rage, all at once. Thanks for the review, I will treasure it always! And you're totally not creepy, by the way. :D
Zhen123: Here it is, hope you like this chapter!
Hmmmm: Thanks for the review, but it kind of drove me nuts. You are not a Roman- use punctuation, please. .
Naunet Elvina Amunet: Thanks for your review, it's really encouraging on a day like today. 3
GothicCheshire: Glad that you like it. To be honest, I keep doing that crap by accident. It'd probably be a hypospray, but I like the idea of Jim falling out of the vent and then Bones just STABBING him. Epi-pens are mildly horrifying, and therefore hilarious. XD
Kirai-Ninja: Well, you have an awful lot of faith. XD I kid, I kid. Yeah, Jim's an ass. He deserved to fall out of the ceiling. And yes, Spock's bag is amazing.
Rah Rah Ren: Um, no. The reference in Chapter six was Fight Club, with the sliiiide line in Len's dream.
One of these days, the review responses will be longer than the actual chapter, and at that point I will cry. XD
