Upset Youth - 6

Dinner passed quickly and easily for Jim. As for Spock it was a slightly stressful experience. Winona had forgotten that Vulcans were vegetarians and had made, quite possibly, the biggest steaks Spock had ever seen. When she had first set the plate down in front of him he couldn't help the rather extreme expression of distaste that crossed his face. Which, in turn, caused Amanda to shoot him a full on glare for being rude.

Not a minute later Winona had taken the steak away and replaced it with a small and simple salad, much to Spock's pleasure. For the rest of the dinner Jim teased him about his 'rabbit food' while Amanda and Winona continued to talk about whatever it was they could have possibly missed during their four hours together.

After dinner, Jim shot out of his chair with the same gusto he seemed to do everything else. As he jumped out of his chair, he paused for only one second to grab Spock's wrist.

"Jim! Get back here you have to do the dishes!" Winona called after him, her hands resting on the table.

"I will in a minute, Mom! I gotta show off Loki and Goldy!" Jim responded from the living room, which he had stopped in to call back to his mother. Spock was glowering softly at the back of Jim's head. Apparently he didn't like the fact that he had been dragged away from the table so quickly.

Back in the kitchen, Amanda laughed softly, which earned her a glare.

"Just because your son does everything to a tee doesn't mean they all do," Winona grumbled halfheartedly.

Amanda shrugged. "Vulcan," she said simply.

"Come on, Spock," Jim said, pulling the attention back to himself. "I have two more pets to show ya." A small grimace crossed Spock's features. The last two 'pets' he had encountered had been nearly twice his size. Silently he hoped this 'Loki' and 'Goldy' didn't fall into that category as well.

Finally, Jim let go of his wrist (which Spock was sure was going to bruise from all the times he had been dragged around with it).

Waving slightly he led the way to a room that led off from the living room. It was a small room, with a large floor to ceiling window all along the right side of the room. Straight across the from the door was a work table and bench covered in tools and random electronics--most of which were in the process of being dismantled. Along the left wall was a wall mural depicting space at it's most mysterious. From the way Jim stared at it, Spock could tell that picture was important or, at least, thought provoking.

Pulling his eyes away from the painting he crossed the room to a small cage in the corner of the room, close to the window. Jim leaned down and looked into the cage. His face was scrunched slightly as he looked around.

"Loki," he called softly. "Huh," he said after no answer was given. Resting his hands on his hip, he turned around and looked at Spock. That was when his eyes went extremely wide and he flung out his arms in a rather sudden movement that made the Vulcan jump.

"Spock," Jim breathed, his entire being posed and tense. "Don't move."

Spock's eyes instantly widened and he felt the most illogical pressure to move. His shoulders tensed and he realized he was holding his breath. What was wrong? Was there someone behind him? Thousands of thoughts flitted through his mind all of them promising danger.

A second later that was a slight pressure on his shoulder, close to his neck. He gave the tiniest of squeaks but, otherwise, didn't do a thing.

"Jim," he whispered, glancing at the other boy. Jim was staring at his shoulder, a slightly sly smile now curling his lips. "Jim, what is it?" He asked. Jim glanced at him then leaned back, looking haughty.

"Look for yourself," Jim stated.

Shoving away the annoyance that threatened to form on his face, Spock tilted his head to look at his left shoulder. Seated there, quite happily he might add, was the tiniest creature he had ever seen. It looked like a chipmunk only with bigger eyes and ears and with a longer, thinner, tail. He finally realized that it was, in fact, a Sugar Glider. As he stared the sugar glider shifted and pressed a tiny paw to the tip of his nose, making him go slightly cross eyed.

"This is... Loki?" Spock said slowly, trying not to focus on the paw on his nose.

Jim moved to stand next to him. "Yup. He sometimes gets out of his cage," he said, stating the obvious. Spock stared at him out of the corner of his eye, making Jim laugh. "Sorry, he's just so small that you have to be careful when he gets out."

Carefully, Jim reached forward to take the glider from Spock's shoulders. Loki resisted for a moment. The warmth that Spock's body heat granted him was more than welcome and he wanted more. But, when Jim had him cupped in his hands, he settled down and was more than willing to be place back into his cage. Latching the cage, Jim turned back to Spock, hands on his hips.

"What do you think?" He asked, grinning cheekily.

For a moment Spock didn't know what to say. Loki was a tiny creature and one he was not well acquainted with. Finally, he simply decided to nod. Luckily, Jim took that as a good thing and his smile grew more.

"Good. We've had Loki since I was six. They're supposed to live for, around, twenty years. So, I plan on keeping him a good long time," Jim stated, looking very serious. Later in life, his statement would be proven true.

"JIM!"

Winona's voice shot through the entire house and promised death if she wasn't answered. Instantly Jim snapped to attention. He grimaced at Spock once and raced out of the room a second later. Now, Spock was left alone. Glancing once at Loki, who was staring at him, he opted to wind his way back to the kitchen.

"I told you, you have to do the dishes," Winona was grumping at Jim, who was standing defiantly.

"And I told you that I was showin' Spock Loki and Goldy," he stated.

At the table, Amanda still sat, peacefully. The dishes had been cleared away and she had been supplied with a cup of steaming tea. When she spotted Spock, she lightly patted her thigh. Normally, Spock wouldn't agree to sitting in her lap. Tonight, however, he was feeling a little overwhelmed and he needed familiarity. Quickly and easily, he moved and settled into her lap, curling close to her chest.

"Don't pull that with me young man," Winona snapped, poking her son in the chest. "You get the dishes done before games. You know that. I'm letting Loki slide. But you finish these dishes and then show off Goldy," she hissed, her hands on her hips. "Got it?"

The expression on Jim's face promised a rebuttle but, after a second, Jim sighed, dramatically and stomped over to the sink. Loudly, he set to work on the dishes. He practically threw the dishes around as he cleaned and put them away.

"Hey!" Winona called. "Try it again, punk." Jim glared at her and she glared back. Then, in the next second, she stuck out her tongue and Jim just had to laugh. After that his dish cleaning was much more gentle.

In Amanda's lap, Spock watched the pair with wide eyes and a very confused expression. How was it this race survived? They could switch so easily between emotions that it had to be near impossible that they didn't explode.

After a few minutes of clanging and splashing, Jim finished the dishes. Drying his hands quickly, he very nearly, leapt back over to the table. His quick movement started Spock out of his relaxed state with a slight gasp. The noise caused both women to glance at him then look at each other with amused expression. Their silent exchange was lost on the two boys. One of which was glaring while the other simply smiled cheerfully.

"Let's go see Goldy!" Jim cheered, reaching out for Spock's wrist.

This time Spock was ready for him. Before Jim could grab him he slipped away from his mother and stood with his hands behind his back. Tilting his head toward the door as if to say, 'well, let's go'. Jim blinked then smiled again. Without another word he turned and practically shot out of the kitchen. A tiny sigh escaped Spock before he followed. It seemed like everything Jim did was with great enthusiasm and motion.

Something he was seriously going to have to get used to.

Following Jim, Spock made his way upstairs to Jim's bedroom. Pausing on the threshold he looked inside. It was a mess. Clothes, comic books, shoes and other bits of technology were scattered across the floor. Both of the beds were messy and undone, one of them even had a pillow half hanging off. The mess made Spock uncomfortable. His own room on Vulcan, was perfectly neat and clean.

"Sorry 'bout the mess," Jim called from beside the bed with the half hanging pillow. Spock glanced at him and then slowly stepped into the room. "Come 'ere."

With a grace that only Vulcans seemed to possess, Spock maneuvered his way to the other boy, avoiding all of the stuff on the floor. Once he had made his way to Jim, he relaxed and rested his hands behind his back again.

"Look," Jim waved at him to lean down.

Leaning down, Spock came face to face with a clear bowl full of water. Said bowl was perched on top of a nightstand, behind the headboard of Jim's bed. The bowl was large and perfectly clean (odd, considering the state of the room). Inside was a cheerful setting, of sand and river reeds and a small, illogically placed, castle. Swimming, happily was a large, fat, gold fish with gleaming scales and wide, brown eyes.

"Fascinating..." Spock breathed.

Fish had always been interesting to him. A beautiful, alien, creature rarely found on Vulcan. Once when he was seven he had suddenly had an intense interest in them and done everything he could to learn all that was possible about them. His favorite was the Angel Fish. To the end of his days it would remain as such.

Jim beamed at his words. "This," he paused to gesture at the bowl, "is Goldy. Had him for three weeks."

"That's not long," Spock said, looking up at Jim.

For the first time since he had been in Iowa, Spock was acting amiable to Jim. He was actually calm and not glaring at everything he did. It seemed Jim had just found the key to the tiny Vulcan's heart.

"Nope. We got him as a replacement for Mr. Fat Cheeks," Jim said, looking a little sad, then he laughed at Spock's expression. "The name right?"

Spock nodded.

"Don't ask me. Sammy named him," Jim explained, resting his hands on his hips.

More than content to stare at this fish for hours, Spock's 'fun' was ruined when his mother appeared at the door.

"Spock," she called softly. "Come on, let's go to bed." He looked at her slowly. Jim glanced between the too. "You have to get used to the time change. So, let's go," she said and waved out of the room. Nodding, Spock turned away and walked across the room--still careful to not step on anything.

"Night, Spock!" Jim called as he left the room. He paused a moment to nod at the other boy.

"It's not so bad here, is it?" Amanda asked, as she led the way to the bed room. She looked down at Spock, who was silent. "Spock?" She prompted.

He blinked and looked up. "No. It is not," he answered as they headed for bed.