This chapter is dedicated to my anonymous 'knight in shining armour' who wrote a lovely review in response to a decidedly less lovely 'flame' review.
Wherever you are, cheers. And in response to the 'flame', Spock's reaction is party due to the intimacy and proximity of the conversation, as it is just the two of them alone, as well as the fact that he may *cough cough* see Alex as more than just a student *cough cough*
Anyhoo, on with the chapter x
The answer to my question was found out soon enough. As soon as I walked through the door I was barraged with questions from my roommate. T'yonga was perched on the counter in an oversized t-shirt with a picture of a fat orange cat drinking a margherita, and blue tracksuit pants. Her eyes lit up when I finally got home.
"What did he want? What did he ask you? Did he ask you for a quic-"
"He wants me to mark some papers for him." I cut T'yonga off, not wanting to hear the end of her third question, "I'm staying after Uni Tomorrow for an hour to mark first year's papers for extra credit."
She was silent for a while, then hopped off the counter and placed the kettle on the hob, looking back at me with a smile, "And that's all?"
I threw my leather jacket and satchel messily on the couch, following them quickly by plonking myself down, un-braiding my hair and letting it fall in dark waves around my shoulders, deliberately not answering her question.
"Cup of tea?" T'yonga asked, clattering around in the kitchen.
"I'd love one, thanks," I replied, stretching my feet out in front of me and resting them on the beige footstool, kicking off my heavy black boots and wiggling my toes.
"Why aren't you going out, 'Yonga? It's only five at night?" I asked her. Usually, T'yonga wasn't there when I got home, preferring to stay in college for an extra hour to get her work done before heading off to one of the many pubs and clubs in the area to catch up with James. T. Kirk, who she was still going strong with, much to my surprise.
She sighed and came to sit next to me, handing me a large mug of tea and taking a sip out of her own, placing her long legs next to mine on the footstool.
"Jim's not in the mood. He's pissed off."
I sat up in interest, looking at her in concern. Jim was annoyed? Jim always seemed like the kind of guy who always had a smile on his face. What could possibly have annoyed him?
"What happened, what did you do?"
She threw back her head in laughter, her curly red hair bouncing.
"Why do you always assume that I'm in the wrong, Alex? It's not me he's annoyed at, it's the academy."
My eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "The academy? Why's he pissed off wth the academy?"
She placed her tea on her lap, and adjusted her position, whilst I took a sip of mine. It was perfect, just the right balance of sugar and milk. I nodded at her to show my appreciation and she smiled in recognition.
"I may not be able to make toast, but I can make a damn good cup of tea. Anyway, Jim's pissed off at the academy because he failed this big test. He thinks it was rigged."
I snorted to myself at the audacity of the situation, as if Starfleet would ever rig a test, and T'yonga smiled at my reaction.
"Yeah, tell me about it. He's convinced that it's impossible to complete. It's got a Japanese name or something, like the Kiboyaru Maura, I don't know."
My ears pricked up at the name, and suddenly, I understood.
"You mean the kobayashi maru?" I asked incredulously, shocked that T'yonga had never heard of it. It was practically infamous. The test, given to future captains, was apparently impossible to complete. I had seen countless captains-in-training exiting the Kobayashi Maru test looking like they wanted to kill somebody, sometimes themselves.
"That's like the worst test in the whole of Starfleet, 'Yonga. I think Spock helped to design it."
Her eyes lit up, and she looked at me with a shit-eating grin on her face as I realised my mistake.
"Spock?" she almost yelled, "So you're on first name terms now, eh?" she elbowed me in the ribs playfully almost causing me to spill my tea.
"I just meant that the Commander-"
"Ah ah ah don't backtrack now..."
I tried to keep a straight face, but failed miserably and ended up grinning at her, "I'm not crushing on a Vulcan, Y'onga. Honestly."
"He's hot for a Vulcan."
"Not crushing."
"And he's smart..."
"Not crushing..."
She grinned, and turned the electric fire up with her PADD, basking the room in a cosy firelight glow, before grabbing a copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' from the dusty pile of books on the marked coffee table and opening it up at the first page, taking another sip from her mug.
"No need to lie to me, Alex. I've been your friend too long, I can see when you like someone."
And with that crypitic statement, she took another sip of her tea and begun to read. I smiled to mysef, and opened up my own bag, taking out my 'Parametric Equations' homework and my graphical calculator. I had a maths lesson tomorrow, and didn't want to hand in my homework late, especially not right after the Professor had told me that he had faith in my punctuality.
"All of them?!" I asked incredulously, struggling to see over the mound of papers that the Professor had placed on my desk in front of me, "In one hour?"
He rolled his eyes and sat opposite from me on the other side of his desk, placing the other half of the bundle of papers next to himself. The clock on the wall of the Professor's Office read 4:05. I had 55 minutes to mark the equivalent of three trees worth of papers, and by the confused look on the Professor's face, he expected me to do it without any bother.
"It's simple fractional division, Cadet. Surely you're capable?"
Alright. Well I guess I should start marking, then. I picked up the first paper and clicked my red pen on the desk, looking at the first question, scribbled hastily in black ballpoint pen. I snorted, and earned a shocked glance from the Commander, his dark brown eyes concerned.
"Are you quite well, Cadet?"
I gestured to the page with my pen.
"This guy just divided six by two and got six."
Was that a tiny quirk of his lip? It was gone in a second, regardless, and replaced with a face that showed no emotion.
"I'm afraid you'll have to get used to that, Cadet." He said plainly, before picking up his pen and beginning to write.
We stayed like that in silence for a good half hour, furiously scribbling, trying desperately to get all the papers marked in time. I looked up from my work occasionally, but the Professor was completely focused, never letting his attention stray from the task at hand. He worked very methodically, marking his papers with an almost smug flair. By the time that he had completed half of his pile, I had only completed a quarter of mine. The continuous tick-tick-ticking of the clock constantly brought me out of focus, and I had to admit that the steady sound of the Vulcan's breathing was quite distracting.
When the large clock on the wall read 4:40, the Professor stood up, causing me to look up in alarm as he scraped his chair on the floor. He glanced at me, and I looked back down at my half-marked paper, unwilling to make eye contact. He silently walked over to the side of his office, and I heard the sound of running water. I looked up in confusion, and was surprised to see him standing by the sink, his long fingers grasping the handle of a beige teapot.
I was positive that wasn't there yesterday.
He looked back at me, his dark eyes scarily intense. Vulcans were not the most social of species, and didn't understand that prolonged eye contact made people uncomfortable. It certainly made me uncomfortable, as I began to fidget with my pen under his gaze, my fingers twirling it around my left hand. His eyes darted to the pen, and he quickly looked away, turning around so his back was to me, his body rigid.
"Would you like a cup of tea, Cadet?" he asked me, and it may just have been my imagination but his voice seemed a little strained.
I was surprised to say the least. I didn't realise that Vulcans even drank tea, I thought it was just a human thing. When I didn't answer, he turned around to look at me once more, taking in the confused look on my face.
"Are you quite alright, Cadet?"
"Sorry, Sir." I answered, embarrassed with myself, "I just didn't know that Vulcans liked tea."
His face appeared almost…. sheepish. It must have been the low-watt institutional lighting, because it was back to normal in a second.
"We do not usually, Cadet. However I was led to believe that you, coming from where you do, regard it as a pleasant drink?"
Coming from where I do? I smirked to myself, which I saw him take note of. It was good to know that English stereotypes were the same for Vulcans as they were for humans.
"Yes. I do, Sir." I answered him quickly, to which he gave a satisfied nod, and poured out two cups.
I was taken aback to say the least. It made no sense that he would have a teapot in his private office if he didn't even drink the stuff. Unless…
My heart skipped a beat, then continued its steady rhythm. Surely he didn't…
"Sir?" I asked as he walked back to our cluttered table, placing my cup of tea on front of me and carrying his back to his side of the desk, "Did you… did you get that teapot just for me?"
He sat down in his chair, picking up the next of his papers, and looked at me.
"Yes, Cadet. I did."
My heart began to speed up slightly, pumping in my ears.
"Why would you do that?" I asked, now completely not concentrating on Cadet Jackson Lightman's fractional division homework, on which he was currently scoring a D-Grade.
"You're giving up your time to help me, Cadet. I'd like to make sure that you are comfortable here. Is the tea to your standard?"
He gestured to the steaming cup in front of me, and I lifted it up and took a small sip, scalding my tongue on the hot liquid. All in all, it was a decent cup of tea.
"Very nice, Sir. Thank you."
He nodded and took a sip of his own, making a face and coughing slightly at the taste. I barked out a laugh, and he looked up at me in alarm at the sudden noise, but relaxed when he saw the smile on my face.
"Not a fan, Sir?" I asked, and he gave me a unreadable look. He placed the offending cup of tea to the side, and pulled out a bottle of water from a drawer under his desk.
"It's not quite my cup of tea, I'm afraid, Cadet."
Was that…? Did he just make a joke? I wasn't given time to comprehend it regardless, as he grabbed his pen and immediately began scribbling again.
"We still have fifteen minutes, Cadet. I would advise to get as much marking done as possible." And with that we continued our silence.
I eventually reached a question that had me stumped. Not because of its difficulty, but because of the weird and roundabout way the student had attempted to solve it. I bit the corner of my lip, my eyes scanning the page, trying to figure out how many marks out of seven his working deserved. He had, technically, got the right answer. He'd just managed to do it with all the wrong formulae.
I worried my lip slightly more with my teeth, before jotting down a quick (5) next to his answer, happy with my judgement. I felt eyes on me, and looked up, and was shocked to see the Professor looking directly at me, or rather at my bottom lip, which was currently trapped between my teeth. The tops of his ears were flushed a pale green, and his eyes, which had always been a dark brown, seemed almost black. As soon as I looked up, he immediately snapped his gaze back down again, focusing intently in the work in front of him, making me wonder if I had see anything at all.
By the time that the clock had reached five, I had convinced myself that I had imagined the expression on the Professor's face, and happily packed up my bags and finished my dregs of tea when he said, "You are dismissed, Cadet." in his usual stern voice.
"Same time next week, Sir?" I asked, and he nodded.
"If the timing suits you."
I smiled, and he appeared slightly taken aback by the display of emotion.
"It suits me just fine, thanks. Sorry I couldn't finish..."
I gestured to the unmarked papers still on the desk. I had completed over half of them, but many remained unmarked.
"Not a problem, Cadet." he reassured me, "I'm much farther on now than I would have been without your help. Thank you."
Had I heard correctly? Had I just been thanked by a Vulcan? I threw my bag over my shoulder and grabbed my jacket, which had been thrown over the back of my chair.
"You're very welcome, Sir."
And with that, I walked off, closing the door tightly behind me.
ALRIGHT THERE WE GO! Hope that was alright for you, please leave me a review telling me what you think of how the relationship between Alex and Spock is moving forward (I never know if I'm going too fast or too slow)
