1.12 - I Heard A Rumour

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Even after getting permission from Jim to pursue Spock, not much changed in their relationship. Cali was aware that the Vulcan was not as in tune with his emotions as Cali was and thus would not be ready for romance of any kind for a while. Especially not with a species other than Vulcan. So, he didn't push, allowing the Vulcan to open up slowly to him as he already was.

This being said, their last Thursday had been a leap in their relationship.

As usual, Cali had stayed seated as everyone else from the class packed up and left, continuing the work from the lesson in peace.

By now, the class had worked out the pattern, realising that Cali was obviously staying behind with the commander and rumours had begun circulating as to why, especially since it was already known that the 'emotionless' Vulcan actually showed favouritism towards the Polyvore. Most people assumed he had somehow scored extra tutoring in the subject, which wasn't far from the truth, but how he gained it was very varied.

The nice people in the class managed to guess rather correctly that the commander had noticed that Cali often spent most of the lessons helping the others in the class rather than himself and was giving him extra time outside of the lessons in order to actually focus on his own education.

Then there were those who believed he'd somehow bribed or blackmailed the commander into getting extra help, which was why he was so good in classes to begin with.

Then there were the idiots of the class who thought he was exchanging extra help and good grades for sexual favours. He'd heard his species mentioned more then once as explanation for their thinking on that particular theory when he had eavesdropped on the discussions of theories. He'd also heard someone add onto that theory that there was no tutoring occurring, only sex. The group had had a real laugh about that one. For some reason, the image of him getting fucked by their commander was hilarious to them. Cali was sure they wouldn't have been laughing so freely if they knew that he was listening. He wasn't sure if Spock knew of the rumours or not but decided not to mention them.

Either way, when the class had finally left, the two worked silently on their own things for most of their time together. That was until Cali moved on to the last of the day's topics, one that he had found quite difficult, not really understanding the topic of how Vulcan's reacted to mix breeds. Biting his lip for a moment, he finally looked up, his eyes catching with Spock who appeared to have already been looking at him. "Are you having trouble with work Cadet?" he questioned making Cali wonder how long he had been watching him.

"Yeah," he confirmed, "I can't get my head around the subject matter."

Spock paused for a moment before nodding. "What particularly do you find troubling about it?"

Thinking for a moment, Cali shook his head. "Honestly sir, I'm not sure. Perhaps because there's no examples given. It explains well that half-Vulcans are treated differently, but it doesn't explain in what way."

"It was not necessary for the assignment."

"I know. But I can't seem to understand what was given without it."

Looking conflicted for a moment, Spock opened his mouth to speak, sounding slightly emotive in his tone, hints of his apprehension at talking as if he had a personal connection to the topic, "Half-Vulcan's are treated as slightly less than Vulcan. Due to their mixed blood, they are less able to understand the logic behind the culture and have a much harder time controlling their emotions than full-Vulcans. Additionally, there are conditions linked to having mixed blood such as L'tak Terai, similar to Earth's dyslexia."

As he spoke, it was obvious to Cali that Spock had been affected by the discrimination in the past. It made him think hard on how Spock acted. While he knew that public shows of emotions were frowned upon in Vulcan culture, Spock always seemed to shun his more than normal, as if he had had to purposefully put more effort into schooling them. Deciding to ask rather than theorise, Cali breeched it carefully, "Commander, I understand it is a personal question, and feel free not to answer, but the way you spoke about it all..." he noticed Spock's slight shock flicker across his chocolate eyes, "Were you personally affected by the discrimination faced by half-Vulcans?"

Spock seemed frozen for a moment. He knew that he was more comfortable around Cadet Caliaire than anyone else in the academy, but he hadn't realised he had let his walls down so much around him that he was so obvious. Resigning himself, he nodded rather stiffly, "Yes, my mother is Human."

"I see. What's she like?" he asked, unable to stop his curiosity from leaking the words.

"She is a very respectable woman. She is also very emotive. She is, as I understand, a typical human mother. Warm and friendly. A very comforting individual."

"She sounds lovely, does she live with your father on Vulcan?" Cali asked, a warm smile that Spock couldn't deny reminded him fondly of Amanda's warmth.

"Yes, she has since their Koon-ut-kal-if-fee, their marriage." Spock confirmed, a small smile curving the corners of his lips as he remembered his beloved mother.

"What about your father? What's he like?" Cali questioned, leaning forward on the desk in curiosity.

"He is the Ambassador to Earth. He is a very logical individual." Cali couldn't help the little laugh that escaped, noting the difference in how he spoke of his parents. It was obvious he cared for them both, but he was obviously a mother's boy. Ignoring Cali's reaction, despite the small bubbly feeling that appeared in his stomach at hearing the quite laugh, he echoed the question, "What are your parents like?"

Pausing for a moment, Cali worked out how to explain. "On my planet, parenting is very different. Your parents are not just your birth parents but the entire older generation. Technically, I've had dozens of parents. You don't really get especially connected to any one of them."

Looking fascinated, Spock commented in slight understanding. "'It takes a village to raise a child'." he replied simply before explaining at Cali's look of slight confusion, "An old human proverb."

"Ah, exactly, everyone in the community aged sixteen and older looks after the younger generation." Cali confirmed, smiling at the proverb, just as his alarm went off, notifying the two that their time was up. "Ah, I'd better get going." Cali spoke aloud, gathering his PADDs and placing them in his bag.

"Indeed," Spock confirmed, standing up and grabbing something as well, confusing Cali slightly since he often stayed in the classroom even after he left. However, apparently today he had somewhere he needed to be as well. "Shall we?" he questioned, motioning for Cali to make his way towards the door.

Deciding not to question the commander's motives, he nodded and made his way passed him and the two left the classroom, Spock locking it for the night behind them. Cali moved to stand slightly in the direction he needed to go while Spock took a small step in the opposite, but still stood rather close.

"Until next week Cadet." Spock nodded and Cali smiled.

"Until next week Commander." He echoed, turning around to walk on his way. As he did, one of his extended hands 'accidentally' brushed against Spock's, in a way that could be taken as accidental but could also have been done on purpose.

Cali was already walking away and didn't get a chance to look back right away to see if Spock reacted how he hoped he would. However, Spock was frozen slightly on the spot, a green blush invading his cheeks as he watched Cali walk away happily. He was still frozen when Cali turned the corner further down the corridor with a satisfied smile, having easily spotted the flustered Vulcan's blush out of the corner of his eye.

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For the next few days, whenever Cali bumped into Spock on campus, he greeted and joined in conversation with the Vulcan. Spock was most often the one to start it, which pleasantly surprised Cali as he expected that the commander would continue to avoid being familiar with him in the corridors. The commander often asked how Cali was or where he was going, even having asked how his partner was on one occasion. That had surprised him.

Whenever they passed, Cali brushed their fingers together again, knowing that it was an acceptable show of affection in public for Vulcan's, and that most other species didn't understand that fact and would likely not even notice the small action, not realising its importance, if they were seen together. It often caused Spock to blush, but he never commented on it, never telling Cali to stop. He took it as a good sign. They both did, though Spock tried not to.

However, their open communications in the corridors that Spock initiated confirmed it in Cali's mind that Spock hadn't heard the rumours about them that were travelling. He knew that if he had then the Vulcan would be a lot more reserved if people saw them together, possibly avoiding public interaction all together let alone their study sessions. He had thought about telling him, knowing that it involved him and, that if it was taken seriously, could cost him his reputation and job. But he wasn't meant to know about them either. Only having heard about them when he was stood behind a bookcase in one of the larger libraries that happened to have been next to a group of his Vulcan Studies class gossiping about their theories.

He had decided in the end to ignore the rumours, knowing that the only bases of their more farfetched claims were racial discrimination and that they were more likely to get in trouble than him. Either way, he kept an ear out, promising himself that he wouldn't risk Spock's career if the rumours became more realistic or well known in the academy.

Either way, he decided he needed to tell Jim. He had warned his partner towards the beginning of their relationship not to listen to rumours about him as they were practically always utter bullshit, but he still knew that he needed to tell him before he heard from someone else. He knew realistically that Jim wouldn't believe them, and would likely start a fight with anyone saying such things about him, but he still felt he should say something as the some of them spoke about him and the commander having relations long before he had spoken to Jim about pursuing the idea.

When they next saw each other, having met up that night at Cali's apartment and were currently sat on the sofa in the living room together, Cali told him.

"Jim?" Cali questioned, anxiety obvious making Jim immediately worry, especially since he'd actually used his name rather than favoured pet name.

"Yeah Cal? What's wrong?" Jim asked, leaning closer next to him, squeezing their connected hands.

"There are some rumours going round about me and I thought it was best if I told you before you heard from someone else." He explained.

Immediately, Jim became angry, but controlled himself quickly and looked Cali in the eye. "I don't give a shit whatever they said about you. I trust you."

"I know love," Cali replied, smiling slightly, already feeling better because of Jim's aggressive affection. "But it's to do with Spock as well and since I only just asked for permission to pursue him and I didn't want you to think I was cheating and then covering my tracks."

Jim's anger became visible for a moment, scaring Cali before he sighed and tried to look amused, "You? Cheating in the relationship. Whoever is coming up with these must really not know you."

"I'd say they really don't know Spock more than me, but sure."

"Okay, colour me curious. What did they say?"

"Well, there are a couple, but the one I'm most worried about is that Spock is either giving me tutoring or upping my grades for specific favours." Though he didn't want to say it exactly, the way he emphasised 'specific' made Jim immediately know what he meant.

Suddenly, he couldn't hide his anger and let the emotions cover his face. "They said what? Who? I'll kill them."

"Jim..."

"It's bad enough to spread rumours about you, but that could ruin Spock!"

That shocked Cali for a moment. "You care about that?"

"Of course. Because you do." Jim answered without missing a beat, "You care about the Vulcan, which means I care, even if I've never met him."

Cali couldn't stop the smile that broke his furrowed expression, quickly pushing himself closer to Jim and passionately kissing him on the lips. He couldn't express himself in words, but the kiss said it all. All his thanks. All his relief. All his love. Jim quickly pulled Cali closer to him, knotting his fingers in his long hair as Cali swung his leg over Jim's, settling himself on his lap and leaning down to deepen the kiss, holding Jim's face in his hands. The kiss continued to deepen until Jim finally pulled away causing both of them to let out a gasp for breath, almost having forgotten that it was even needed in their emotional embrace. They stayed in their position, Cali leaning over Jim's shoulders, still sat on his lap, as the two panted deeply.

When he'd finally caught his breath enough to speak only slightly breathy, Jim whispered out, his voice quiet but full of meaning, "I love you."

"I love you too."

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Lots of feelings and love in this one, perfect for the chapter to be uploaded today. I couldn't have timed it better. Happy Valentines all!

Also, 10 points to your house if you get where the title's reference is from.