Spock looked around the small bedroom he was to reside in with another student while studying at Starfleet Academy. The room was sparsely furnished: two beds with a desk at the foot of each. There was a small, empty closet on either side of the door and on the far wall was a window that overlooked a sloping lawn with several tasteful but modernly designed academy buildings at the far end. Spock walked further into the room and placed his bag on the bed to the left. He began unpacking his things.

A few moments later a young man with sandy blond hair and a rugged appearance walked into the room. Spock turned and they looked each other up and down for a few moments.

"You're my roommate?" the young man asked incredulously. Spock blinked at him.

"Apparently."

"Figures I get stuck with the alien."

The young man sighed and pushed past him into the room, flopping down on the bed to the left.

"Actually, I've already put my things here." Spock said, gesturing toward his bag at the foot of the bed and his few possessions on the desk.

"Then move 'um." The young man replied. Spock bit the inside of his cheek.

"I was here first. My things are here. Logically, you would simply move to the other side rather than have me move all of my belongings." he said calmly. The sandy-haired youth rolled his eyes.

"Just my luck, I have to live with the only Vulcan in Starfleet." Grudgingly he stood and moved to the other side of the room. He sat down on the bed and gave Spock a cursory glance.

"Nice sweater." he scoffed. Spock looked down at the gray knit sweater he was wearing at his mother's insistence that he would be cold. Even with the sweater he was freezing. On Earth he almost always was.

"Thank you." he replied. The young man rolled his eyes again.

"I was being sarcastic." he said.

"I do not comprehend sarcasm." Spock replied.

"That's when someone says something they don't mean." the young man explained patronizingly. "I thought you had to be smart to get into the academy." he added under his breath.

"I understand the definition of the word." Spock snapped back. He took a deep breath to calm himself. I am in control of my emotions. I am in control of my emotions. I am in control.

"What's your name?" his roommate asked offhandedly.

"Spock." Spock replied.

"That's it? Just Spock?" the young man asked, a little disdainfully.

He shook his head. "My full name is unpronounceable to humans and my mother also gave me the name Harold."

"Are you kidding?" Kirk asked, eyeing his roommate skeptically.

"I am incapable of "kidding"." Spock replied matter-of-factly. "And you are?"

"I'm James Tiberius Kirk." The sandy-haired youth replied proudly. Spock raised an eyebrow.

"Do you always introduce yourself using your middle name?" he asked, a little condescendingly. They glared at each other. Or rather Kirk glared.

Spock turned away and continued unpacking. He counted the seconds as they passed to calm himself. After two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, as he was setting a small potted plant native to Vulcan on his desk, Kirk suddenly exclaimed:

"No! You are not putting that up in our room!"

Spock turned to look at him. "I beg your pardon?"

Kirk got to his feet and crossed to Spock's side of the room. "You are not putting any flowers in my room!" he said, pointing accusingly at the plant as if it had just murdered someone.

"It is not a flowering plant and I can put whatever I like on my side of the room." Spock replied firmly. Kirk glowered at him.

"Fine. Then I can put whatever I want on my side of the room." He crossed to his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper and a marker. He scribbled on the paper for a few moments before attaching it firmly to the wall. On the papers he had scrawled, "VULCANS DON'T BELONG IN STARFLEET" and had drawn a stick figure with angled eyebrows and pointed ears at the bottom with a slash through it. He turned around to face Spock and crossed his arms stubbornly.

Under normal circumstances Spock would not allow such a childish action to anger him. However, the words reminded of him of his father. Reminded him of the icy silence that had existed between them since he first decided to join Starfleet. Reminded him of how disappointed and angry Sarek was that Spock had chosen to join Starfleet instead the Vulcan Science Academy. More than anything Spock, as the first of his kind in Starfleet, wanted to prove his father and the words on that paper wrong. Vulcans did belong in Starfleet. And he wasn't about to let this hedonistic simpleton tell him otherwise.

"I find your sense of decorating extremely distasteful and will not spend my time at school here looking at that." He crossed the room and made a move to tear down the paper. Kirk knocked his hand away. Spock shoved Kirk roughly against the desk, pinning him with his forearm. The young man wrenched free and slammed his fist into the Vulcan's face. Spock stumbled and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked at the green smear on his knuckles and then glared at Kirk.

"You bleed green? You're even more of a freak then I thought."

Spock hit Kirk as hard as he could in the jaw. The young man was thrown backwards onto the floor by the force of the impact. Spock walked over and looked down at him.

"I suggest you avoid making me do that in the future." He warned. "Otherwise you might get hurt."

Kirk clenched his jaw angrily. He kicked Spock's legs out from under him and leaped on him with an angry yell. The two young men wrestled on the floor, knocking into things and making a racket.

"Just what is going on here?" a deep voice boomed from the doorway. The boys stopped fighting and looked up. One of the instructors was standing in the threshold, glowering down at them. Both scrambled to their feet as quickly as possible, straightening their clothes and wiping away blood. Kirk was bleeding from a cut above his eye and Spock from his lip.

"It was my fault, sir. I allowed myself to lose control of my emotions and I am extremely sorry for it." Spock said. The instructor shook his head in disappointment.

"You're one of our brightest, Mr. Spock." he said. "I'm afraid I'll have to inform your father about this."

Spock was unable to hide his embarrassment. He hung his head in shame. The instructor turned to leave.

"It was my fault, sir." Kirk interrupted. The instructor stopped and turned.

"Mr. Kirk?"

"I baited him. I threw the first punch." Kirk said. "If anyone should be punished it should be me."

The instructor sighed. "Do you know why we put you boys together?"

They shook their heads and quietly murmured, "No sir."

"It's because out of all of the students here, you two have the most potential… You could be a great team. Don't waste it." He paused. "I'll let this incident slide, but don't let it happen again!"

Spock's head pricked up. "You're not going to tell my father?"

The instructor shrugged. "From what I hear you're in enough trouble already."

"Thank you, sir."

"It won't happen again, sir." Kirk added.

"It better not!" the instructor warned. "Now you boys finish unpacking and, for goodness' sake, try to get along." He turned and left, closing the door behind him. Kirk massaged his bruised jaw as if making sure it was still attached.

"You sure can throw a punch, I'll give you that." he said with a short laugh.

"From you, I will accept that as a compliment and I thank you as I'm sure it was kindly meant, although I am mortified by the incident and offer my humblest apologies." Spock replied.

"Don't worry about it… Well, I guess I'll take this down now." Kirk sighed, pointing toward the paper still tacked on the wall.

"Leave it." Spock replied. He went to his desk and retrieved his own paper and pen. He wrote for a few moments and then attached the sheet to his wall, taking great care that it was hung straight. It read, "Humans are highly illogical."

"Wow." Kirk said sarcastically. "That's a real dagger to the heart there."

"It is a piece of paper, not a dagger. And is not even in near proximity to your heart." Spock replied.

"I was being figurative, not literal," Kirk said, "and sarcastic."

"I do not comprehend figurative language or sarcasm." Spock replied. Kirk covered his eyes with his hands.

"This is going to be a loooooong year."