A/N: Winter is coming. ;)

Chapter 8

The winter holidays were drawing near and the days grew both colder and shorter. Spock would walk out of the dormitory wing in the mornings to find the grass covered in white frost from the night before. Since the party and what was becoming known by the group as the great hangover of 2250, Jim and Spock had found themselves more frequently in each other's company. Kirk continued to sit behind Spock in every class and would often join him and Uhura when they studied, although, as of late, it had been too cold to sit outside, under their maple tree. Instead their small group had taken to residing in the library after their lessons had concluded. Spock and Nyota would study devotedly, while the majority of the others would alternate between studying half-heartedly, trying to coerce Jim out of doing stupid things that would get him in trouble, and laughing when they failed and he had to be escorted from the building.

Surprisingly, the promise that Jim had made, all those weeks ago in the cafeteria, had stuck. Though his childish antics had continued, Spock had never again been in the yolk of what happened. Spock, though he was never affected by the strange occurrences, found an unusual sense of amusement that he could not quell when he viewed the effects of Jim's pranks. One frostbitten Wednesday, Jim strode into lunch in an exceptionally good mood. Which, going by Jim's usual standard of being permanently gleeful, was quite extreme. He sat down next to Spock at the table and looped his arm over the Vulcan's neck.

"Hey, Pointy," he greeted merrily, grin stretching from ear to ear.

"What are you so happy about?" Bones asked sullenly from his seat, where he looked angrier than usual. His cheeks and nose were bright red. "I hate the goddamn cold," he added, casting a resentful look at the frosted glass doors as if they had deeply offended him.

"Oh, nothing, Bones," Jim said, his tone contradictory to his words. Just then a movement at the far end of the room caught Spock's eye. A boy, wearing a scarf and beanie was extricating himself from a crowd that seemed to be gathering around him and was walking in their direction. As the boy neared them, Spock recognised it to be Peter, the senior that they had been at odds with for quite some time. James began to snigger quietly, his body shaking in his seat as he attempted to stop himself from laughing out loud.

"Well, look who it is," he managed to say before resuming chuckling.

"James, what, precisely, have you done to warrant such a reaction?" Spock asked of his friend, concern in his voice. Jim only laughed harder.

"Here we go," McCoy said and turned to face the furious boy as he reached their table.

"Kirk!" Peter yelled, face purple with rage. Jim looked up at him innocently.

"Peter, hii. What's wrong?" he asked, eyes wide, a look of concern on his face that Spock might have considered real, had he never encountered Jim Kirk previous to seeing it.

"You little cunt, Kirk! You little shit!" Peter roared, voice escalating in volume. He reached his hand up and whipped the beanie from his head. He was completely bald.

Bones burst out laughing, something Spock had never seen him do before. "Holy shit, you're bald," he said, tears streaming down his face. James, too, could no longer contain himself and began to wheeze, gasping desperately for breath as he looked up at Peter's bared head. Spock found himself suppressing a smile.

It was at the moment that Nyota arrived at the cafeteria for lunch and walked over to them. She took one glance at Peter, connected the dots, and burst into laughter alongside Kirk and McCoy.

"Oh," she gasped. "Oh, wow."

"Kirk. You did this, I know you did this. You're going to pay for this, you piece of shit." Jim began pounding his fist heavily on the table.

"Stop," he gasped, face wet with tears. "I'm gonna piss myself."

At this McCoy and Uhura laughed even harder. Peter, realising that there was no way in which he could stop Kirk from laughing long enough to threaten him in a way that wasn't completely embarrassing, glared at them all murderously and stormed away. By this time, most of the people in the room were laughing and some, like James and Leonard, were in complete hysterics. It appeared that Peter was not widely liked among the school community.

Peter's foretold revenge arrived later that day in the form of angry call that he had had his parents make to Professor Jameson about his lack of hair. It was rumoured that although Jameson had been courteous and amiable while talking to Peter's parents, he too had laughed a small amount once the call had been ended. Following which, he promptly told Peter that there was no proof of Jim Kirk's involvement and that Peter should learn to deal with his problems maturely, instead of calling his parents to do it for him.

"Basically he told him to grow a pair and get the fuck out of his office," Jim concluded relating the story to them that night at dinner, laughing as he did so.

"Good advice," Uhura said, nodding in approval. "Although, I'm not exactly sure how that pussy's gonna grow a dick." This caused Jim to laugh so hard that he fell from his seat and landed on the floor under the table, knocking his head as he did so. He stayed down there for a while, unable to control his limbs due to his cackling. They heard his struggled chokes of breath and gasps for a time, before he could compose himself enough to rise from the floor.

"Have you ceased your pointless display?" asked Spock, as his friend emerged, red faced and beaming from under the table.

"Not even close," Jim said and continued to chuckle at random junctures throughout the meal, regaining composure for a time before the laughter gripped him again.

"There's something wrong with your friend," Nyota said to Bones, looking suspiciously at James as he relapsed once again.

"Yeah, I think something broke in the mainframe," Bones said grimly, rubbing his jaw. "I'm taking it back to the shop tomorrow. Getting the newer model. Apparently they've cleared up the bugs so the new one won't be so annoying."

"Well that's a relief," said Uhura, smiling at McCoy.

"So, ar' ye two together or wha'?" asked Scotty, who too had noticed their recent behaviour. Uhura and McCoy looked taken aback by the question and seemed not to know what to say in response.

"Obviously, they are," said Kirk. "Didn't you see them all over each other at that party?" he asked, looking around the table. Nyota's face had darkened with embarrassment and McCoy was looking distinctly pink.

"Ugh, I'm living with the blind," Jim said when no one responded.

"It is neither kind nor logical to interfere in the business of others if we can not edit the circumstances positively," Spock said calmly to Kirk, cautioning him to stop talking. Nyota threw him a thankful glance. Jim, seeming to heed Spock's words, promptly changed the subject by standing on his seat, cupping his hands to his mouth and yelling across the room.

"Yo, Peter! I love your new look, you gotta get me the name of your stylist." Face encompassed by a smile once again, Jim threw a glance over his shoulder before saying "shit, bye!" and dashing, laughing, from the room, pursued at a sprint by an enraged, hairless Peter.

The next day consisted of Kirk both taunting and running from Peter, who, being of lesser intelligence and athleticism than his prey, never managed to exact the revenge that he had sworn would be his.

The day after that was a Friday, and it was not only Kirk whose spirits were soaring. Everyone was looking forward to the weekend and the promise of Winter break drawing ever closer that it brought. Only three weeks until the end of the semester and the much needed holidays. Even Spock, whose plans were to travel back to Vulcan, felt a certain anticipation about returning home that was not altogether bad.

Classes had concluded for the day, culminating in a rather interesting Health lesson in which Jim simply had to know the varying ways in which to fornicate interspecially. Spock was unsure whether it was Jim's insistence on pursuing the subject, or his offer to play an explanatory video for the class that got him sent from the room, although he suspected it was the latter. Afterwards they studied in the library, per their custom, although Jim had taken Spock's hand a time before they were required at dinner and had pulled him from the room.

"What is it you require, Jim?" Spock asked as Jim led him through multiple hallways.

"Let's get out of here. I'm sick of cafeteria food, c'mon." Jim and Spock exited through a door that the Vulcan was unaware of previously and found themselves at the edge of the grounds, a side gate hung open near them.

"Jim, you are aware of my position when breaking school rules," Spock said, halting and refusing to be dragged further by the excited blonde boy.

"Yeah," Jim said, pulling on his hand. "You're a goody-goody, I know. But you'll break the rules for me, Spock. You've done it before. Where is the logic in taking a moral stand against something you've already done?"

"It is called learning from and amending one's mistakes," Spock replied evenly, causing Jim to roll his eyes.

"Come on, you Hobgoblin. Don't make me give you the look," Jim said threateningly.

"What 'look' are you referring to?" Spock asked, confused. Jim suddenly dropped Spock's hand and took a step closer, minimising the distance between them until it was almost nothing. He cast his blue eyes up into Spock's brown ones. They were wide and filled with innocence.

"Please Spock. Please, please, please," he said, widening his eyes further. Spock sighed in defeat: it was an effective look. Clapping joyously and laughing, Jim took hold of Spock's hand once more and dragged him through the gate.

They walked for a long time, weaving through streets and alleys until Spock was certain that their direction was entirely aimless and that both of them were completely unaware of their current location.

"Jim-" He began,

"We're not lost, Spock. Have a little faith, okay?" Jim assured him and led him down another series of streets. Spock had opened his mouth to voice his concerns once again when Jim loudly said,

"Tah-dah." They were standing at the mouth of a small cobblestone street, just wide enough for a single car to pass down, though none did. The street was filled with restaurants. Every building in the lane appeared to be a food related establishment of some sort. They all had outdoor seating set up in the middle of the road and the tables of each restaurant spilled into one another. There were trees planted along the road at regular intervals that were strung with fairy lights. The street was filled with people, eating and drinking. Music echoed from one of the restaurants and it was loud enough to fill the air and enhance the atmosphere.

"I found this place by accident, once when I was ditching," Jim said proudly. "I like to come here sometimes when I get tired of the cafeteria food. They've got all sorts," he explained, gesturing at the restaurants, "French, Italian, Indian, Steak, mmm I love me a good steak. I think they've got a vegan place too. You know; for your treehuggin' diet." Before Spock could respond, perhaps comment on the 'tree hugging' remark, Jim had walked forward and taken a seat at one of the tables.

"Which restaurant does this belong to?" Spock asked as he sat down.

"No idea," said Jim, "but they're usually cool about letting you order from the other places." In the end, Jim decided to order a T-bone from the steakhouse, soup from the French restaurant and fries from the diner. Spock, on the other hand, had ordered an assortment of vegetarian noodles from the Chinese restaurant. When the meals came, Spock was not able to suppress a smile.

"What?" Jim asked, looking baffled by Spock's rare show of emotion.

"The pumpkin soup." Spock said, motioning at the dish. "I am unable to look at it without recalling the 'food fight' that you started on my first day and the pumpkin soup that was splattered all over your shirt as a result."

"You remember what kind of foods I was wearing?" Jim asked.

"Affirmative." Spock confirmed, as Jim began to chuckle lightly.

"And you're not going to make up some bullshit excuse as to how you remember that? Like your 'Vulcan memory.'" he said, using his fingers as quotations marks.

"While it is true that Vulcans practice in memorization and pattern recognition, no, I do not presume that that is the reason I remember the particular types of food that covered your shirt that day." Spock said calmly, looking into Jim's smiling blue eyes.

"Why, Spock," Jim gasped, putting the back of his hand to his forehead and pretending to swoon, "I didn't think you cared."

"Are you aware that you dramatise everything?" Spock said to Jim, a light smile playing at his lips.

"I do nothing of the sort," Jim said obstinately. "How dare you accuse me of such a heinous act? How dare you, sir?" Spock shook his head in exasperation. "The nerve of some people." Jim said to himself, angrily.

"You are truly a complex being, Jim," Spock remarked, smiling beside himself.

"You smile more lately, you know that?" said Jim ponderously, appearing to be serious for a change.

"Perhaps it is your negative influence that has affected me so," Spock replied evenly, being careful to keep his face devoid of expression, while Jim's realigned into his wide smile, which Spock was beginning to suspect, was how the boy's face was naturally set.

"What negative influence? I'm amazing."

"Indeed."