When Spock returned to the apartment it was to Jim sitting on the new couch, curled up with his bare feet on it, eating directly from a carton of ice cream. His eyes were red, though not moist, so Spock could not tell if he had been crying or his eyes were red from something else.
“Hi.”
“Good evening, Jim.”
Jim said nothing else for a moment, just shoved another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. He seemed distressed, but Spock could not quite put a finger on it as to why or how he even thought it was the case. Jim’s body language seemed relaxed enough but there was something off about him even taking away the red eyes.
“I didn’t know you were going out,” Jim said then. “Came out of the shower and you were gone.”
Spock nodded. “I had an engagement. I did leave a message.”
Jim’s shoulders hunched in then. Just a tiny bit. “First night in our apartment, I kinda thought we’d spend it together. You know?”
Spock did not know. Jim had not said and Spock didn’t know there were rules about these things.
He cleared his throat. “An unspoken rule?”
Jim blinked, then shrugged. “No. Just an assumption on my part I guess. But I guess there’s that old saying my Gran used to say for a reason.”
“Saying?”
“To assume. Makes an ass out of you and me. Get it?”
Spock did not, exactly, but he knew there were many things Humans paid attention to that Vulcans did not.
“I do apologize for leaving, but I had arranged to meet someone.” Spock went into the kitchen to make tea.
He was surprised when Jim unfolded himself from the couch and followed him. He put what was left in the container of ice cream in the freezer.
“Where did you obtain that?” Spock wondered. They had not shopped for any food that he recalled and they hadn’t moved any either
“Convenience store on the corner. When I realized you were gone, I went down there and got that.”
“I see.” Spock put a teakettle on for hot water. “Do you want some tea?”
Jim bit his lip. His hair was in disarray and he somehow looked far younger than Spock knew him to be. “You got any of that tisane with the little blue flowers?”
“I do, yes.”
Jim nodded. “That would be nice.” He leaned up against the counter. He had pulled on loose fitting pajama bottoms and an oversized T-shirt with some cartoon character Spock did not recognize. It was likely why he seemed so young just then. “Did you, uh, have a good time?”
“It was…educational.”
Jim smiled very slightly, but his gaze slid away, his cheeks vaguely pink.
Spock once more thought he might be missing something, but he had no idea what.
When he made Jim his tea, he picked up the cup and gave Spock a rather shy smile. It made Spock’s stomach hurt again.
“I think I’ll take this to my room and get to bed early. Have a morning class I can’t be late for. Thanks, Spock. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Jim.”
Should I do Jim’s POV or stick with mostly Spock (Amanda’s part an exception)
Comments
14 responses to “Flash Fic (Roommates), January 25, 2021”
They. Are. Killing me!!
I can’t wait for them to figure this out Bc when they do? Whew boy.
As much as I would love to see Jim’s POV, always, I think you should stick with Spock. This is his narrative.
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thank you, that is what I thought too
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What Kris said. ^
Jim 😥 he wanted to spend the evening in their new place together.
This is so good
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thank you
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Wow. Such pressure.
But I’m gonna say you write Jim so well, we kinda know what he’s thinking anyway.
But I’m the last person to ask. You know how in some of mine, I switch back and forth freely.
(I believe you tried to teach me outa that. I must drive you crazy. Crazy-er.)
You know, this is all so believable. As a woman, I never know what guys are thinking anyway day to day. And they don’t talk. Till it all erupts out like a volcano and then it’s too late. Drives ME crazy-er.
So come on Wednesday!
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UNLESS there’s some big something Jim is holding back that you can’t intimate from Spock’s POV – for you even to ask us, makes me think – hmmmmm wonder what is there that you want us to know that you can’t writing Spock’s POV?????
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nah, not at all. I just didn’t know if you guys were missing Jim’s POV. I’d rather stick with Spock (other than my Amanda POV) to make Jim’s thoughts a bit more uncertain.
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I *think* as humans we can kind of tell that Jim likes Spock a lot here. I’d like to think so. It’s Spock who doesn’t quite get it. ha ha. And Spock foolishly does NOT say oh yeah I was meeting my mom, so to Jim it seems like Spock was out on a booty call. Poor dear.
I have not written Wednesday yet. Woke up with a killer migraine. It’ll get done before then but perhaps not today!
Thank you! I was taught in creative writing way back in the stone ages of high school to stick with one point of view per scene otherwise it is head hopping BUT whatever works for each writer as long as it is readable, but I try not to switch within a scene, but each chapter or section can be different. In this case, I was wanting to stay mostly with Spock but wanted to be sure no one was going what about Jim. Jim is my preferred POV character most of the time but in this story I wanted it more as Spock
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OH yeah, you can easily see how switching works so well for me personally. That’s why I have 3 readers, and you have 10s of thousands. I’m gonna catch up with you SO soon! 😜
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😀
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As much as I want to know what Jim is thinking, I think this is working very well. I just want Spock, for once to tell Jim more about what’s going on. Like I met my Mom. And I want Spock to go after Jim now and offer to do something together now or soon, even if he can’t talk about his emotions yet. Show Jim that you enjoy being in his company dummy!
❤️💚😘🖖
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Yes that’s definitely the consensus! ❤
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Seriously. If I didn’t rely on you to get them together in the end, this would be way to frustrating. Spock needs to learn to read between the lines, Jim likes him, why can’t he see that?
I agree with the others, I’d say stick to Spock’s POV. 🙂
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Yes dummy Vulcan!
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