Star Trek

The sound of footsteps—although they had always been distant and near due to the speed of the footsteps, they disappeared now.

The pointy-eared boy turned around in displeasure.Even if he could regulate his body temperature, the desert night temperature was still not pleasant.

Jim—his eyes dropped suddenly—squats some distance away from him at some point, burying his face in his arms, sleeves that are too long for him to hide his tangled hair.

The boy looked so vulnerable under the boundless desert and the cold moonlight.He is too small, there is no fulcrum or support in this absurd universe, he is only a duckweed in the wasteland.

"Jim…?" Spock didn't even realize he lowered his voice.Maybe Jim was… crying. "Are you feeling unwell?"

Jim didn't speak or move. Spock tensed a little, and he walked back quickly, his fingers hesitated to touch Jim's shoulder, the coldness of human skin could be felt through the fabric, and his warmth was flowing through.

"Jim, are you okay?" What really baffles Spock is that he knows he's a touch telepath, but he doesn't technically have direct skin-to-skin contact with Jim—even before he's walking toward him. Before Jim, he'd felt human bewilderment and...sadness.

What's even weirder is that it's not the empathy Spock has ever felt from being in contact with his mother, it's—empathy.

Jim finally looked up, and the boy was smiling—yes, but he didn't look happy; Spock would learn later that there were many, many kinds of Jim's smiles, with different people and with different things , he can face it with a smile, but that doesn't mean he's really happy from the bottom of his heart.

Jim said, "I'm sorry, I think you're right, my... my feet are so cold I can't feel them."

"The average weight of a ten-year-old child on Earth is 35.41 kilograms, but you are only 28.6 kilograms. The muscle density of Vulcans is three times that of humans, and I am superior to you in terms of age, height and weight, so—"

"So it's easy for you to carry me behind your back, right? OK, I get it, I just—" Jim scratched his hair with one free hand, and quickly put his arms around Spock's neck again, "Just wanted to say thank you."

"No thanks. I would be very troubled if you were injured during your stay at my house."

"Just because of that?" Jim was a little annoyed.

Spock hesitates. "Other than that..."

"Okay okay I'll tell you, I know you can't, you duplicity." Jim buried his face in the back of Spock's neck, he was so cold and the Vulcan's skin was so warm, so warm, "And because we're friends, right?"

"…I don't deny that." Spock tensed at his movement, "Stop itching my skin with your hair."

"But you are warm."

Spock sighs inaudibly, he always seems to have nothing to do with this little playmate.

"Jim," the Vulcan boy asked after a moment, "are you... suffering from some kind of emotional distress?"

"Mmm, what?"

"You're..." Spock picks out the right words, "nightmares. Frequent."

"……Yes."

"Do you want to talk about them?" Same with me.

"Yeah." Jim sighs unabashedly, and then lets out a big yawn, "But not now, Spocky. Not tonight."

Spock walked home with Jim on his back, and mentally analyzed what kind of criticism from his parents he would bear when he returned to the mansion.He's not going to hold the blame on Jim, even if it's true.Perhaps he could selectively...state some facts and listen carefully to the teachings.

this is nothing.And Jim doesn't need to face these when he goes back, all he needs is of course a warm sleep.

Jim was not quiet, he kept talking to him in such a sleepy state; he was also restless, he still wriggled dishonestly on him even though his legs were numb. Spock pinches his ankle, and he settles down, only to start agitating again a moment later—and so on. Spock has never been this close to another person before - by any measure. Amanda would need to comfort him for a good night kiss, and tonight he let Jim touch him off guard.

What puzzles Spock most is that he neither resists nor resents the touch.

Even deep down...something is welcome for Jim.It is lonely and lonely because of Jim's distance, and it is happy because of Jim's approach.

what is it then?

he does not know.

"My brother... never carried me like that before," Jim said suddenly, softly. "Not in my memory. So... thank you, Spocky."

"...No need." The Vulcan boy paused for a moment, only answering so briefly.

After a while, maybe a long time, the chattering behind him gradually disappeared, replaced by even and steady breathing.

Jim fell asleep on his back.

The boy was muttering something.Maybe it's Mom, or Sam, or Dad. Spock had heard this kind of sleep talk on previous nights, more than once.

but not. Spock listens for a moment, Jim is... saying his name.

……his.

He gripped Jim's thigh harder, the embassy getting closer, the night fading behind them.

9.【Spirk】White Lie

Jim knows that he has many shortcomings, such as carelessness, such as lack of sensitivity to other people's emotional changes, such as disregard for safety, such as not being able to take care of himself... In short, he believes that dishonesty-this is definitely not one of them.

He is about to be 11 years old, and he knows what is the principle and what is the wrong bottom line that cannot be touched.

So he was very, very angry and stared at Sdvasu with folded arms - the steward of the ambassador's house and the one who accused him of stealing important documents from Sarek.

"Dvasu?" Jim fumed. "He's a total E'shua!" he muttered to Spock, his back against the wall, in a low but angry voice.With less than a week to go before his trip to Vulcan, to make such an allegation at such a juncture—absurd!

"Polite words, Jim." Spock was sent over to watch over the human boy "to keep him from doing something he regrets on impulse."He glanced at Sdvasu, who was arguing hoarsely (by Vulcan standards), under the lamp, and he also disliked the overly self-important butler; but Vulcans shouldn't like it, and he certainly doesn't would say, "Having Dvasu in his name doesn't mean he's a believer; likewise, don't just insult someone as a demon."

His little friend snorted. Spock can see how unhappy Jim is, no one likes to be accused of stealing from someone else's stuff - especially, that finger wrench means a lot (although Spock isn't quite sure exactly what it does) and it's in one of Sarek's study The cabinet locked with a combination lock has been kept for many years, but it has disappeared today.

Sarek's study is full of old books, Surak hadiths and stuff like that, even Spock doesn't like to read them, but Jim is very interested - Sarek encourages the children to read more Surak, he is a devout follower of philosophy ; Therefore, Jim has the privilege of entering his study at will and flipping through any book at will.To say it is a privilege means that no one else, even the servants, can clean without notification.

This is why Jim has not been able to "clear" his "suspect" of theft so far.

This morning Sarek and Amanda go out to handle the adults' work tasks, while the servants in the house do their jobs. Spock has a class and Jim doesn't, who spends most of his time in the study and those heavy paper books—that's something everyone knows.

By the time the parents came back at noon, the wrench had disappeared. Sarek didn't get angry, he was always calm enough until he found out the truth; and Sdvasu said with certainty, it could only be that this human had entered Sarek's study - and Jim was knowledgeable enough to unlock the combination of the cabinet.

"Should I thank him for appreciating me so much?" Jim scoffed.

Spock frowned, the discussion of the adults over there seemed to have died down, and Sarek was walking towards them: things didn't look good, and behind them, Sdvasu looked smug and Amanda looked worried.

"James." His father spoke. He didn't look angry at all, but gave off a strong sense of oppression. "Tell me honestly, have you touched anything in the study room without permission?"

"You don't believe me?" Jim frowned, totally forgetting to be polite (he respects Sarek's normally), "you'd rather believe his gibberish—" His fingers pointed at Sdvasu, but his eyes were Looking at Sarek, and burning with anger, "You don't believe me? What do I want your scum for - damn I haven't even seen it!"

"Watch your words, Kirk." This time Sarek