1.10 - Resolutions

~~*~~

On the way to class, Cali had to go back passed the Kobayashi Maru testing room again. When he got to the door, he paused, looking at it in thought. He didn't understand why the test meant so much to his partner. He couldn't work out if it was just his pure stubbornness that had caused the extreme reaction or if there was something else affecting him. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear the observation room door open and the four people leave.

Spock noticed the cadet immediately, his dark silver hair making him stand out in practically every environment. He bid farewell to the invigilators and approached the spaced-out cadet. "Cadet Caliaire." He greeted causing Cali to finally snap out of his thoughts and turn to see the commander standing there looking curious. "I thought you had left with your partner." Spock admitted, the unasked question floating.

"Yes," Cali confirmed before changing the subject with a slightly strained smile, "I was just on my way to your class." Giving a slight nod, Spock motioned for Cali to go on and the two walked towards the class in comfortable silence.

As they walked, Spock watched Cali out of the corner of his eye. He could clearly see the man was lost in thought. Obviously troubled about something. He had seen that the man was fine before the test, quite cheerful if not slightly anxious about the simulation his partner was taking. Though, Spock then remembered the kind and carefree aura that the Vulcan had come to know the man for being corrupted with his worry as he watched the test continue. He had seen the look on his face as he rushed out of the observation deck to chase his partner.

"I apologise." His monotone voice broke the silence of their walk and once again freed Cali from his thoughts as he looked up at the Vulcan in slight confusion.

"What for, sir?"

"For my part in your displeasure." Spock clarified.

Cali's smile faded slightly again before he gave up on the façade and sighed. "You didn't do anything sir, it's his own fault." He consoled, turning his face back on the direction they were walking as they turned a corner.

Not accepting his words, especially now that he had seen Cali's smile fall, he continued, "But you have become upset due to the actions of a test I programmed."

"I have become upset due to the actions of an idiot." Cali snapped slightly, completely out of character, shocking Spock. However, the commander knew that the tone was not aimed at him and thus schooled the show of emotion on his expression. Cali quickly disciplined his tone and looked up at Spock with a reassuring and slightly apologetic smile, "Not you sir, though I do appreciate the thought."

Studying Cali's face for a moment, he gave a short nod, accepting the dismissal of his guilt. "Will you be alright, or would it be beneficial for me to explain the point of the test to your partner so that he can better understand why he failed?" Spock questioned, feeling oddly emotional at Cali's upset state, and wishing to help him in some way.

"I don't think that would help sir, I've already told him how the test is meant to be completed and he ignored me," Cali dismissed politely, "but thank you for the offer."

Not feeling satisfied with the inability to offer any form of assistance, Spock found himself disappointed when they finally arrived at the semi-filled classroom and was thus unable to continue the conversation further in order to find a solution to his need to help the cadet. Giving a polite nod to each other, the two parted ways as Cali went to his seat and Spock continued to the front in order to set up for the upcoming lesson, still emotive over the conversation.

However, Spock did feel consoled as he noticed Cali brighten up throughout the lesson, obviously enjoying the topic of Vulcan childcare, and was smiling genuinely by the end of the lesson, back to his usual self. He felt especially relieved when he noticed Cali not packing up his things when the rest of the class was dismissed, instead pulling out a separate pad to look at.

"Is there anything you require assistance with?" Spock questioned after a moment of silently observing his student.

"No, I think I've got it." Cali answered as he looked up with a relaxed smile. "I was confused about it last night, but apparently I just needed to take a break and look at it again later cause I somehow understand it now. Though that does make sense, it was rather late." He admitted before realising he was rambling slightly and looking back down at his PADD to continue the work.

During the few Thursday evenings that they had now spent together doing work, Spock had noticed that Cali had become much more comfortable in his presence. While at the beginning he had stayed very polite and professional with a slight distant air about him despite his presented openness, he was now actually more open, allowing Spock to see a side of him that he hadn't before, though still with the politeness that he expected of his students. He also noted that he was only ever really like this on their Thursdays together or when the two were completely alone. He assumed this was because he wanted to keep their relationship completely professional appearance in front of others so not to display Spock's rather obvious favouritism for him.

Spock was rather thankful and found himself reciprocating the action, keeping up the completely cold and distant Vulcan exterior that was expected of him in the presence of others while allowing himself to relax and let down his walls placed around his human side while alone in the other's presence. Seeing that his help was not necessary in that moment, he moved on to planning the next lessons for his classes.

The two worked in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company even if the sentiment wasn't voiced or even acknowledged. After a while, Spock found himself requiring Cali's assistance. "Cadet." Spock called, gaining Cali's attention who looked up with a curious smile, "As you know your classmates better than I do, what method of learning do you believe would best suit the class as a whole?"

Smiling at the fact he was able to help his commander, Cali thought for a moment. "Well, most of the class are fine with a lecture format as you do at the moment but at the same time, they do prefer more engaging lessons."

"Do they not find the subject matter engaging enough?" Spock asked, feeling rather insulted on behalf of his culture.

Cali shrugged, noticing the emotional display but not commenting on it, having worked out early on that Spock didn't like to display his emotions and disliked it even more when they were called out. "For some reason they don't find the study as fascinating as I do." He explained, his confused tone expressing how he didn't understand how they couldn't find it interesting.

For some reason, the words made Spock feel slightly warm, knowing that Cali was so interested with his culture. "I see. Do you have any suggestions?" he questioned, unsure as to how he could remedy the issue.

"I'm not sure. I've noticed people in this academy pay more attention if the teacher is open and engaging. They also appear to enjoy it if they make jokes or talk about themselves."

Both Cali and Spock frowned at his words, both realising that he was describing someone the exact opposite of the commander. Though Spock did notice that he was speaking in the third person. "You do not share the same opinions?"

Looking up at his professor, Cali shook his head, "No, while I don't mind if a teacher is friendly, I find that if they go on tangents about personal stuff during the lesson or crack jokes it interrupts the flow. Though it is, of course, different if they are giving personal insight into the teaching topic, such as telling a personal story about their culture in order to give people a real world example of how it affects the people of the planet."

Nodding his head, Spock thought on it. "I see. I do not believe that I would have any insight that would make the class more engaged."

"Oh, I disagree sir." Cali interrupted making Spock look down on him again, "while you probably wouldn't be able to link anything to language lessons, you could very likely speak about your culture. Such as what it was like being schooled in the Vulcan Learning Centre, the meditations you have to go through in order to banish and control emotions so thoroughly or even what it's like growing up with Vulcan parents. I've found that humans find it very hard to learn about new things without real life examples to link the facts back to. Either way, I admit that I am fascinated about the upbringing and childcare on Vulcan."

Spock watched Cali talk excitedly with a bright smile and felt his cheeks warm at the man's enthusiasm about his life stories. "You seem very enthusiastic about hearing about my life experiences." Spock commented curiously, an eyebrow raised.

Cali nodded, controlling his enthusiasm a bit. "Yeah, I love hearing about how different people were raised in different cultures, my species' upbringing being so very different to every other one I've encountered so far." He explained making Spock curious. Though he knew that Cali was very unique, he had assumed that the man was human. It appeared now that he had been wrong in his assumption. Before he could comment on it, Cali's communicator went off making the man blush blue in embarrassment as he quickly grabbed it and turned it off. "Sorry, my alarm." He explained making Spock look at the time on the clock he had placed on his desk and realised the time.

"Yes, I think that is all for the now, you should get on with your day before it gets too late." Spock commented, looking down at Cali to see him nod and pack away his things.

Cali made his way out, thanking the commander for his time and bidding him farewell, which Spock echoed to the cadet as he left.

~~*~~

At some point during that time, Jim had found himself back in his dorm along side Bones. He had begun ranting to Bones about what had happened, somehow still exceptionally angry despite the time that had now passed. He had likely repeated himself three times before Bones finally interrupted.

"You're being an idiot Jim." Bones flat out said causing Jim to freeze mid rant, completely gobsmacked. "Do you even know why you're angry anymore? Cause you've blown this way out of proportion. You're angry about failing a test you went in to knowing you couldn't pass. And you've taken your stupid frustration out on poor Cali. So, hurry up and get your head out your ass, apologise about being a dick to your boyfriend, tell him you love him, kiss and make up." Completely done with Jim's childish behaviour, Bones walked off into the bathroom, thus not noticing how his words had affected Jim.

Now snapped out of his rant, Jim was completely frozen as one phrase of his scolding was stuck on repeat. "Tell him you love him." Having Bones say it made Jim realise that he had never actually said that he loved Cali. Sure, he had said how much he loved the markings on his back and his smile, but he'd never said he loved just him. Cali said it to him all the time, literally calling him love as his pet name. And it wasn't like Jim didn't love him because he loved Cali. More than he'd ever loved anyone before.

Thinking back on all of his past girlfriends, he had realised that he had only ever been in love with the idea of loving them and not for who they were. But he loved every little thing about Cali. Loved his smile and his hypnotizing electric eyes. Loved how he spoke about his culture and anything and everything that interested him. Loved to trace his Singularis Markings on his back or to be held close by his surprisingly muscular arms. God, he loved him.

The realisation shocked him so much that he was completely calmed down just in time for Bones to come back in and the front door to open to reveal his beloved boyfriend. He noted in relief that Cali looked a lot happier now, having his usual smile on rather than the look he had when Jim had stormed off. "Hi love." Cali smiled at Jim before looking over at Bones as he also entered the main dorm and headed over to sit on his own bed, "Hi again Bones."

"Hi Cali," Bones replied with a smile, "how are you doing?"

"I'm good, thanks Bones, just got back from Vulcan Studies." Jim realised that must have been what helped his mood, knowing how much he favoured Vulcan Studies to his other lessons. Turning back to Jim, Cali gave him a quick look over before offering a caring smile, "You feeling better love?"

"Yeah, Bones snapped me out of it." Jim answered, flashing a grateful smile over to his friend who smiled back, looking pleased, "I'm really sorry for snapping at you earlier."

"It's okay love, I knew you didn't mean it, you were just blowing off steam."

"Thanks Cal." He smiled, trailing off, truly appreciative of how understanding his boyfriend was and wanting desperately to say the words that he had been wanting to, but just not sure how to now that he actually meant them so deeply. Realising he wasn't going to be able to and not wanting the conversation to drop off there, he smirked and moved on, "I'm still gonna beat that test though."

"Of course, love, if anyone is stubborn enough to actually do it, it would be you." Cali smiled in amusement, joining Jim on the bed, and linking their hands, giving Jim's a squeeze in reassurance.

~~*~~

There we are, the second part of the chapter I split in half. I hope the little cliff hanger was worth it.