Jim was still curious about Spock though and he realized he actually knew very little about Spock other than him being into elves from Tolkien.
“Do you speak Elvish?”
This time he saw Spock’s spine stiffen. He did not turn back around though.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Elvish. I mean, there are a lot of people into fandoms that learn to speak the language of the characters, right, and I know there are a bunch of people who speak that from the Tolkien books. So I thought given your ears, you might—”
Spock did turn around then, and he was waving the spatula he held somewhat threateningly. “I do not speak Elvish, Jim. And I did not have my ears altered to be pointed on the end.”
“No?”
“My ears have been like this from the moment I was born,” Spock said slowly and carefully as though Jim was a buffoon. And at the moment Jim thought maybe he was.
“Oh. Um. Sorry about that. Stupid assumptions.”
Jim could only imagine the teasing Spock must have had from other kids because of his ears. He knew kids could be cruel from his own experience with severe acne.
“Your apology is accepted. If you will go sit at the table, I will shortly bring the waffles to the table.”
Jim did, feeling pretty foolish. Spock had set the table with butter and syrup too. He kept his mouth shut and drank his coffee.
A few minutes later, Spock arrived with two plates with large Belgian Waffles.
Jim smiled uncertainly. “Looks good. Thank you.”
They ate in silence for the most part. Other than a few comments about whether they’d get the rain that was predicted for the next morning.
When they were done and Jim was assured Spock needed no help cleaning up, Jim decided to excuse himself to his own place. He really was tired and a bit discouraged, though he wasn’t sure why. Spock was still polite and nice to him.
“Do not forget your Bisquick.” Spock handed it to him as Jim picked up his empty thermos.
He sort of remembered Spock had mentioned him coming for dinner Monday night but as he headed for Spock’s apartment door, Spock made no comments to remind him, and Jim didn’t want to push his luck.
Still he lingered for a moment there, hoping Spock would come close enough for Jim to try a little kiss. But Spock kept his distance and somehow made it look as though it really wasn’t deliberate.
“Okay, thanks for dinner, Spock. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Jim.”
Jim went back to his apartment and basically straight to bed. And in that bed, he stroked himself to images of Spock, and afterward he fell into a fitful sleep.
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 
April 19, 2022 at 4:12 am
Oh no! Foot in mouth disease. Poor awkward Jim. And awkward Spock too, though I get why he’s trying to keep his distance. Aw man these two are breaking my heart.
But all roads lead to spirk, right? Right?!
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April 19, 2022 at 7:08 am
yes all roads are supposed to lead to spirk ha ha
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April 19, 2022 at 8:00 am
I’m…..
(tries to think of words)
uh….
(uh)
I guess I’d have to say, this chapter is SO real, so realistic to how such a meeting / encounter /dinner would really go down, that it kind of hurts.
But that’s how, as you say, Humans are. When we meet up with something we just don’t get, our brain is going to land on the closest thing possible to what we do understand. Because like it or not, Humans are a species that insists on categorizing and putting things in file drawers.
And I don’t care WHAT words the writers put in Jim’s mouth, and it’s all, big momentous talk – there IS such a thing as the unknown. Always has been. Always will be.
For humans anyway.
The news the past few weeks has been full of articles about different science things Humans have recently discovered that just don’t do what we neatly had determined they did.
They don’t work like WE decided they work, but we’d already put them in a file drawer and labeled it “THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED. NO DISAGREEMENT OR DISCOURSE ALLOWED.) And those are things close to earth that they’d prided themselves on “knowing.”
Cause literally NONE of the science is settled no matter what the arrogant say.
We cannot create from scratch a single live cell of anything, in the greatest laboratory Earth has to offer with the help of the greatest computers yet built.
We can observe. We can alter. But we can’t create.
So yeah, there is unknown, and it drives them bonkers.
Me? I don’t understand how my Keurig works, much less computers and chips and the sewer system or electricity that magically is available in my wall.
So yeah, Jim’s attracted, but his brain just makes himself categorize in a way he CAN process. And his ideas keep being shot down. But he’s a brilliant guy. Full of waffles. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
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April 19, 2022 at 9:04 am
Yeah poor Jim, that really didn’t go well at all for him, but we will see how it goes from there
what’s that saying? We don’t know what we don’t know.
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April 19, 2022 at 3:03 pm
What j said^ !! Jim is trying to rationalize Spock’s mysteries from his Earthbound POV. Thinking Spock was an alien would be a massive first leap. So yeah, he assumes Spock has deliberately altered his ears. If Spock gives it some thought, It is more logical for Jim to think that Spock had deliberately made his ears pointy, as opposed to Spock is from another planet!
Now Jim needs to make sure Spock really accepts his apology and show Spock sone love!
❤️💚😘🖖
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April 19, 2022 at 3:11 pm
well to be fair, Jim still isn’t going to think being born with pointy ears means Spock is an alien 🙂
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