For January, we are back to Flash Fic Fridays. In February I will add back in Wednesday Flashes.

Spock should not have been surprised to look down and see Vanik standing beside him as he checked himself in the mirror in the bathroom of his apartment. It was becoming all too common to find the boy nearby. He was fond of his nephew, but he would not be all that unhappy when Sybok and Anoria took their leave of Earth with their precocious son in tow.

And yet…he was surprised. Illogically.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“I have come to learn what progress you are making with Jim.”

Spock eyed him balefully. “That is not your business.”

“I believe that it is. Since I am the one who first introduced you to Jim…”

“We became acquainted with Mister Kirk on the same day.”

“And I arranged for your first date.”

“It was an outing, not a date. And you tricked us.”

Vanik shrugged. “You were getting nowhere on your own. Which is why I am inquiring as to whether you require my assistance again. You have now been on no less than four dates with Jim, not counting the sleigh ride.”

“We rode in a carriage, not a sleigh,” Spock pointed out. “An expensive one at that. It was false advertising.”

“There would be no place in San Francisco to pull a one horse open sleigh so improvisation was required,” Vanik said simply. “Jim did not seem to mind.”

“As he is your elder and you are barely acquainted, you, perhaps, should refer to him as Mister Kirk.”

“On the contrary, he told me when we met his name was Jim. He has not rescinded the personal use of his name.” Vanik paused. “To either of us. Are you scheduled to have a date with him this evening?”

Spock sighed. “Yes. I am preparing for it now.”

“That is good news. Have you had opportunities to exchange implications of favorable softer emotions?”

Spock blinked, feeling somewhat dizzy with such a convoluted sentence.  “I am quite sure that is not your business. Nor is any of the specific details of my interactions with Jim.”

Vanik frowned. “But you do…like him?”

He hesitated only a moment. “Yes.”

“And he likes you?”

It was on the tip of Spock’s tongue to advise the boy to direct that question to Jim, but then he realized Vanik would, and Jim certainly didn’t need to have the boy pestering him with personal inquiries.

“Yes,” Spock replied instead.

He was saved from further invasive inquiry by the blurp of Vanik’s communication device. The boy flipped it open and Spock heard Anoria’s voice.

“Vanik! You ran off again. Get back here right this instant.”

“I am with Uncle…”

“I know where you are. Stop bothering Spock. Come back to the hotel immediately.”

“I will be there soon.” Vanik closed his device and nodded at Spock. “I must go. I hope you have a most productive date with Jim.”

Spock did not reply as his nephew scampered off. Instead he looked at his colognes that had been gifts from his brother and sister-in-law just this past holiday season. He chose one and splashed it on himself.

Then he turned away from the mirror to prepare to retrieve Jim for their date.