Light The Way (And I'll Follow) || Spirk

Chapter 7

For the first time since he started serving on the U.S.S. Enterprise, Spock did not know how to log the events of the past few days. Luckily, there were no drastic missions that required an official report, so he allowed himself to leave the first officer's log to a later stardate.

Spock had not spoken to his captain since that one night in the recreation room. In fact, if Spock were to use a common Terran metaphor, it seemed the tables had turned—Kirk had taken to avoiding Spock and always maintaining distance between them, and even during their chess matches the captain seemed distracted; their matches had drastically shortened in length due to how quickly Kirk was suddenly defeated.

He felt that Kirk was attempting to block their bond, and it left this empty ache in the back of his mind—a constant reminder of the current situation.

Because of reasons that were entirely logical, Spock had no experience to prepare him for a situation like this. He was aware that Kirk had confessed his romantic feelings that night, but it was so unexpected—and dare he say, surreal—that even now Spock had not yet thought of a correct response.

Shore leave had never been particularly interesting to Spock. He didn't have much family to reconnect with (especially not on earth, which is where they were docked once more) and he'd always preferred spending these periods of unnecessary free-time in the ship's science labs. He couldn't recall the last shore leave he'd spend away from his beloved lab.

This time, however, he'd decided to join Lieutenant Uhura and Chief Engineer Scott (to their complete astonishment) on their planned trip to the beach in San Francisco (Baker Beach, located near Starfleet Academy). A certain captain had planned to meet them there, but was yet unaware of Spock's unexpected decision to join. Spock hoped this would grant him the opportunity to talk to him at last.

Luckily, the weather was pleasant. It was still much colder than Spock was used to on his Vulcan home-planet, but it was summer on earth, which meant Uhura spent the entire trip complaining about how she was suffocating in her jeans; it did not help that the short-distance city shuttle they were using didn't have a functioning cooling system.

The three arrived at the Academy (where they'd promised to meet up with Captain Kirk) exactly 12.84 minutes behind schedule, but it seemed not to matter as Kirk was currently engrossed in a conversation with a small crowd of cadets. Spock took a moment to observe—Kirk was laughing and playfully patting a young man's shoulder, his happiness strong in the back of Spock's mind.

"I wouldn't worry too much," the captain was saying. "I took the test three times and eventually cheated my way though it, but it's meant to be a no-win scenario. Act responsible and you'll be fine."

Uhura waved and called out to Kirk to get his attention. When he turned, his eyes found Spock's just briefly before he turned away. The captain's happiness diminished instantly; Spock found himself missing its warmth.

After Kirk had said his goodbyes to the cadets he made his way over to his crew. It was odd to see him in something other than his golden captain attire, although Spock had to admit black suited him just as well.

"There you are," Kirk said casually, although the strain in his voice wasn't quite unnoticeable. "Let's go. I've seen enough of the Academy in my lifetime."

Uhura laughed and agreed, taking Kirk's arm and leading the way. Either Uhura and Scott didn't notice the sudden tension between the captain and his first officer, or they'd chosen to ignore it. Or, Spock realized, perhaps the tension was only obvious through the shared bond.

"How'd the speech go?" Uhura asked. Kirk shrugged, his eyes focused on the ground as he walked. Scott had started talking to Spock, but the Vulcan wasn't really paying him much attention.