Taurik showered and headed for the holodeck right after watch and found Wesley already there. He was dressed in gym attire and had some equipment. The space was simulating a rather small, square, white room. He smiled widely and threw up the salute, which Taurik answered briefly. He glanced at the scene with cautious curiosity as Wesley beamed and announced with excitement, "I'm going to teach you how to play squash."
"You are assuming I've never played."
Wesley's smile dropped. "Have you?"
Taurik dropped his gaze and shook his head. "No."
Wesley laughed. I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to come in anything but your uniform, but I was worried you'd say no." Wesley tossed Taurik a racket he just barely caught.
"And you thought that once lured here, I would be more likely to agree?"
Wesley shrugged, looking so plainly embarrassed and dependent on Taurik's approval, Taurik did not wish to refuse him. He was up for it, anyway. A little exercise would do him good, he thought. He would have rather been given the chance to change, but he let it go.
"Well, I am ready to begin."
"You think so?" Wesley smirked. He let a ball drop and pounded it into the wall, where it bounced and zipped right past Taurik's face. Taurik dodged in a panic, giving Wesley quite a laugh. Taurik pursed his lips in a new found determination to defeat the other boy. Wesley explained the rules as he hogged the ball, but that was hardly needed. Soon enough Taurik got the idea and provided Wesley a fierce challenge.
Although he was still in uniform, running and bounding, Taurik was sweating far less than Wesley, and wasn't panting nearly as hard. It wasn't so much that he was in good shape, but that his body was more efficient at heat management. But since they were both young and fit, the game went on for a long time before Wesley finally called for a break. Glistening with sweat, he went over to his bag for a drink and threw a bottle to Taurik, who had learned by now to expect things to be tossed at him. He wiped the sweat from his face and neck with a towel-also thrown. He had a lovely greenish glow to his face and overall felt quite invigorated. The workout hadn't been overly intense by his standards, but it felt good and had been fun.
And it was the first time in a long time he'd played with another person.
The two enjoyed a quiet moment of hydrating and recovery.
"You're getting pretty good," Wesley said.
"You weren't so bad yourself."
Wesley laughed. "I didn't know Vulcans could do that."
Taurik frowned. "Do what? Play squash?"
That seemed to delight Wesley even further. "No! Make jokes."
Taurik fixed Wesley with a half-lidded gaze. "You haven't met too many Vulcans, have you?"
"Guess not. I'm sorry."
Taurik cocked his head. "For what?"
"Well I guess I keep forgetting that you're..."
"Different?" Taurik asked, but he smirked ever so slightly at how Wesley squirmed with needless guilt.
Wesley regarded the Vulcan carefully, and slowly relaxed. Taurik wasn't displaying his mental state as obviously as a human might, but to his credit, Wesley had the empathic intuition to be able to tell from Taurik's precious few signals, that he was being friendly, even teasing.
"Well don't be," he said. "You can be quite strange, too."
They played a bit more and had dinner together afterward. They returned with vigor to the conversation they started earlier until Taurik reluctantly informed him that he needed to sleep a bit before his next shift. Much as he would have enjoyed it, Taurik didn't see the sense in sacrificing sleep to continue a conversation he could continue later.
With every time they met up, Taurik felt as though he'd come away with something new. Wesley would teach him new things, mostly games, but sometimes he'd show him the odd possession or something he'd found. And he'd provide an additional clue about his life, his past, and true nature. For appearing rather aloof much of the time, Taurik was perceptive enough to piece these clues together and gain a certain understanding of what kind of person his human friend was.
And just as Wesley was an open book for Taurik, Taurik didn't see any reason not to trust Wesley. He never discussed private things, but he filled him in on the more innocuous tidbits of his past and family.
One day, after an especially grueling game of tennis, Wesley asked Taurik, "Been studying for the advancement test?"
Taurik wiped his face and caught the bottle tossed to him by reflex. "Oh, I don't need to study," he declared, but it wasn't a boast in his opinion, but a statement of fact. "I have the manuals from which the questions will be drawn memorized."
Wesley frowned. "How do you know what the questions are going to be?"
Taurik took a drink. "I know what's expected of an engineering lieutenant," he answered with an extra touch of drawl in his already languid tone. "Commander LaForge has told me he considers me lieutenant junior grade already."
Wesley's eyes widened in approval. "Wow! That's great!"
"But you are worried you won't pass the test," Taurik said, knowing he was putting Wesley on the spot. His friend certainly liked to discuss personal matters with him, but one thing Taurik had noticed was that Wesley tended to shy away from revealing his more tender emotional vulnerabilities. This only endeared Wesley even more to the Vulcan.
Wesley paused before answering. He turned an earnest face to Taurik, and Taurik wondered if perhaps the human were searching his face for the sort of sympathy a human might offer.
But Wesley didn't seem disappointed at Taurik's placid, unchanging expression. In fact it seemed to calm him down. He sighed and lazily scratched the back of his head. "I just really need to advance this time. I don't want to tell Mom I missed it because I didn't study hard enough."
Taurik certainly understood that motivation, but since academia came so naturally to him, he had come to expect high marks in anything he tried. He didn't quite know what it was like to experience such stress and anxiety of failure with an exam.
"Well, you do have two months," Taurik said. "And I'll help you study."
"But we have completely different subjects!"
"Wesley. I've memorized the tech manuals of the warp core and basically the entire ship. I doubt looking over your study materials is going to be that challenging."
This time Wesley did take offense, though at first he looked more confused than angry, as if believing he might have just misheard Taurik. But Taurik did notice the shift in demeanor and wondered what it was he said that would offend his normally cheery friend.
"I'm not studying warp mechanics or anything," Wesley retorted. "But I still have to know a lot for the test! Maybe if you spent a shift in my place you'd see for yourself it isn't easy."
Taurik threw his glance down in contrition. "I apologize," he said, his tone about the same as always, but gentler. "I wasn't trying to imply..."
Wesley sighed loudly and before Taurik could look up, he was pulled into a sweaty embrace. He debated whether or not he should return the hug, but Wesley pulled away before he could decide. "It's alright," Wesley sighed, and then smiled softly as he began to pack up. "I know what you meant. I'm just...stressed. Bet you don't get stressed like this, do you?"
Taurik followed Wesley out of the holodeck once all their things were packed up. "I do," he said as they walked down the hall.
"Really? Then how do you deal with it?"
"That is probably a longer conversation than we have time for," he answered lightly. "Right now, at least. But I would be glad to assist you in your studies, as I've said. Perhaps that might alleviate the worst of it?"
Wesley smiled. "That would," he said softly.
They walked to Wesley's quarters in silent contentment, and once they got there, Wesley invited Taurik in. The Vulcan hesitated, but entered. He only sat when urged, and was entirely too stiff. He felt that another person's living space was extremely private and intimate. Friends and lovers of course could share the space, but to Taurik, that was like any other kind of sharing such close relationships usually entailed. Living spaces, food, secrets, bodies...
The two had been spending their off time together frequently for the past few weeks now, and this was the first Taurik had seen of Wesley's room. He had not yet invited Wesley to his own and Wesley had never asked. To Taurik, just sitting here meant they were more than just casual companions, and that realization made him nervous. Not that he didn't want it, though.
Wesley brought some data tapes to the table, by his computer. "All my stuff's on there," he said. "If you want, you can look it over while I take a shower? You don't mind waiting for me, do you?"
Taurik got up and went over to the computer, pleased to be given task. Something safe and sterile. "That's a good idea, go ahead."
He eventually pushed away his nagging anxieties that he was invading his friend's space and privacy by reminding himself that not only was Wesley extremely open and trusting with him, but he had invited him to his quarters. Soon enough he was able to concentrate enough to give the material a good scan.
When Wesley returned, cleaned up and fully dressed, he smiled warmly and came over to Taurik, who was bent over the computer screen. For nearly an hour, the two went over the material. Taurik was able to assist Wesley in figuring out what he needed more help on, and what he could safely put aside to study later. And just in talking about the duties of his particular job and rank helped cement the information into Wesley's mind. Though Taurik hadn't been able to study all those data tapes in the time it took for Wesley to shower, he still provided a great help just by being something Wesley could bounce ideas off of.
After a while, Taurik had to leave to get ready for his shift. He didn't feel Wesley needed to be so grateful. "I really didn't do anything at all but regurgitate the reading material," he protested against Wesley's gushing gratitude.
"Well whatever you did, it does help!" Wesley assured. "At the very least, I'm not so freakishly terrified of the test now. I mean, that's worth something."
"This is true. Anxiety will only impair your judgment."
"Says the guy who never gets anxious," Wesley smirked.
"I assure you, there are times," Taurik said.
"So you're worried about it, too!" Curiously, Wesley seemed amused that his friend should also experience the pain of worry.
"I will do my best to prepare for the exam. Worrying is pointless and illogical," he countered.
Wesley laughed. "Yes, it is. Maybe if I keep telling myself that, I won't worry so much."
"Well, that is one way to gain control of it," Taurik said, nodding approvingly.
Wesley grinned. "Think I could nab another study session out of you?"
"Well, of course. Any time we're both free, you're welcome to ask me."
Wesley cupped one hand on Taurik's arm, giving him something between a pat and a stroke, and then let go. Taurik wondered if his friend had wanted to hug him again. He would not have minded.
They parted as they usually did, with the salute and spoken farewells, and Taurik went back to his own lonely quarters. It just occurred to him that Wesley shared his space alone, as evidenced by there being two beds and yet part of the room wasn't being used. He decided to ask Wesley about this the next day. For now, there was meditation to slip into.