Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Michael was tall.

Spock, of course, understood that people older than him were taller than him. Growth was a factor of time. Michael was older than he was, and so she was taller. Logical.

Michael was tall, though. She wasn't tall in the slender, long way of pre-adolescent Vulcans, where their limbs appeared to outpace their torsos during the initial growth phase, but rather in a way where her torso seemed to have outpaced her limbs. Perhaps this was a function of Human growth patterns.

-

She was eight, according to his mother. That was twice his age, he informed her. Yes, it was, his mother confirmed, her teeth displayed in a manner that indicated pleasure in a Human. His mother only performed this act in the house.

Michael did not display her teeth, even inside the house. He followed her, though the first days she spent with them. She never displayed her teeth, and she rarely spoke, except to give an answer to a direct question. She had adjusted very quickly to Vulcan culture, he thought. Perhaps his mother was teaching her.

-

Michael's hair looked like clouds. It floated around her head and danced in the light breeze that was coming off the Forge. Surak taught that it was logical to find beauty in their surroundings, as it anchored them to their world. Spock found beauty in Michael's hair.

One day, Spock returned home from his suus-mahna lessons to find that Michael had taken her hair from its clouds, and straightened and cut it into the blunt style favoured by most Vulcans.

Spock praised the logic of her choice. It would ensure her hair did not distinguish her from her peers, and demonstrate her dedication to Surak's principles.

(Deep in his katra, Spock mourned the clouds.)

-

Michael's skin was golden. Vulcan skin gleamed green under the light, reflecting their blood. Michael's skin was golden under the light of 40 Eridani A. Did that mean her blood was also golden? That would be the logical assumption, based on his current evidence, but he was unaware of any species that had golden blood. What element would allow such a colour?

(Months later, Michael would fall, and her blood would be as red as the sands of the Forge.)

-

Michael could not perform a ta'al. She said that her fingers simply did not work that way, as they bent and clawed with her attempts to form the greeting.

Spock looked up at her, and held his hand up. She hesitated for a moment, and then placed her palm on his. The skin on Michael's palms was tough, barely yielding to the pressure Spock placed against it, and Spock had to remind himself what he was doing before he became fascinated by examining her skin. He focused on his hand, and spread his third and fourth fingers apart slowly, guiding her own into the shape of the ta’al.

Michael displayed her teeth.

Chapter Text

Michael was a tactile individual, Spock quickly discovered. She was settled in against him in his bed, peering over his shoulder at his padd as they both struggled their way through their class reading. Michael had begun learning Golic two months, two weeks, and three days ago, and their mother had decided that she was now capable of reading the entry-level texts along with Spock. It was an extract from Surak’s First Analects, where he described the way a Vulcan ought to help his neighbours if he could. Spock rubbed his eyes as the characters swivelled and flipped in front of his eyes, reducing Surak’s wisdom to nonsense in front of him.

Michael was frowning, her fingers tapping against the edge of the padd. “M ... mair ... uh. Mair ... yem .... p - pa ... ” She sighed, and rubbed her eyes as well. “This is so difficult to read.”

Spock nodded, dejected. “I am four months behind on my literacy,” he said, pouting.

Michael wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him into her side. “I am seven years behind, sa-kai. We can be behind together.”

Spock looked up at her, and then looked back at the text. If Michael was truly seven years behind - and she must be, considering that she had lately reached ten years, and had only just begun learning Golic - then he could be four months behind. Michael showed an admirable logic in the face of disadvantageous circumstances, and he told her as much.

Michael laughed, the sound staccato and her teeth white. “It is not logic, sa-kai. I am just coming later - it doesn't mean I will be worse, does it? I am smart, and I know I am smart, and I have Vulcan's smartest little brother, so I think it will all be fine.”

Spock pouted up at her. “You have no evidence that I am the smartest younger brother on the planet, ko-kai. I know that I cannot be – Stoval is ahead of me in the rankings, and he is the youngest of five brothers.”

Michael waved a hand, and then started absently stroking her fingers over his hair. “The rankings do not indicate intelligence, sa-kai. They indicate how well you pass tests - I know that passing tests well does not always make you smart.” She hugged him closer, and huffed. “What is Amanda feeding you? You weigh as much as an elephant.”

Spock let himself go limp, making it even more difficult for Michael to move him. “I am the average weight for a Vulcan child of my age.”

Michael grunted, and shifted her weight for better leverage against him. “Then the average Vulcan child your age weighs as much as an elephant.” She finally got him where she wanted him, and rested her cheek on the top of his head.

Chapter Text

“Ko-kai!” Spock didn't quite stamp his foot, but it was a close thing. "That is my padd. I request that you cease holding it where I cannot reach."

Michael grinned down at him, and wriggled the padd above his head. “What, this? This is a book, sa-kai.”

Spock’s face scrunched up. “It is a padd, ko-kai. It is a Personal Acess Data Device. A padd.”

Michael looked up at the padd, and hummed. “Are you sure? I think it is a cactus.”

And there was the foot stamp. “It is a padd.”

Michael tossed the padd, and caught it again. “Mmm … no, I think it is a sehlat.”

Spock started to turn chartreuse. “Ko-kai!”

Michael grinned, and giggled. “Okay, okay. I am just teasing you, sa-kai.” She handed him the padd, and then wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and pulled him up onto the bed with her.

Spock wriggled out of her arms, and tried to fix his hair with a pout. “You are behaving illogically, ko-kai. I do not understand it.”

Michael smiled, and flopped down onto Spock's bed. “It is a Human tradition, sa-kai. Siblings tease each other as a bonding ritual.”

Spock's face scrunched up, and he stared just over her shoulder. “Then … then you are a sehlat.” His face smoothed out, and he looked at her, clearly waiting for her approval of his participation in this Human ritual.

Michael couldn't help but laugh, and she wrapped herself around him again. “That's it!”

Spock screeched as Michael tipped them off the bed, but when Lady Amanda rushed up the stairs to make sure they were okay, she found them tangled together as they wrestled on the floor.