It's Academic

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	It's Academic
Author(s):	Deeb
Date(s):	2007
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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It's Academic is a Kirk/Spock story by Deeb.

It was published in the print zine The Legacy #3.

Summary

"A/U: Cadet Kirk is intrigued by his astrophysics tutor, who, though half Vulcan, has been raised on Earth."

Reactions and Reviews

Well, I’ll be darned. Another academy story – and once again with a different perspective. Spock as a tutor – and not the Spock we are accustomed to knowing. This Spock’s formative years were completely different than we have come to believe and that throws an entirely different light on what happens between him and cadet James T. Kirk. I like both men in this story – good heavens, I even like Gary Mitchell! Doctor McCoy is good too, and we learn an imaginative reason for his being called “Bones”. Good stuff. The progression of events here is very well done, believable and enjoyable, though outside canon. I think Kirk is positively charming, and Spock has more than his share of charisma, too. Kirk is brash and feisty and I like that in him. Spock’s a little more human for lack of a better description.

Such a wealth of new stories in the beautiful new Legacy volumes, and Jenna‘s list of the writers‘ challenges to speculate with as well! I enjoyed this story for its glimpses of a shy Spock and precocious Cadet Kirk, especially. Here, we see Spock, teaching at the Academy and learn that he has been raised on Earth, by his human relatives following the accidental deaths of Sarek and Amanda when he was a baby. This explains why he understands so little of his telepathic abilities: Befriended by Kirk, the initial attraction between them is lovely to see, as is their mutual amazement when their minds touch. I enjoyed the portrayal of Gary Mitchell in this story: He is truly Jim‘s friend, caring beneath his mocking exterior and showing a good understanding of his fellow student. Sometimes, this character is portrayed as having very few redeeming features. McCoy‘s here too, already fond of Spock, it seems, and we witness the beginnings of his friendship with Jim Kirk... There‘s actually so-o many ideas in this story that I wondered if it had begun life as a possible longer tale? Spock talks to Jim about his bleak upbringing—we have heart breaking glimpses of an isolated, misunderstood half-Vulcan and meet an entirely unsympathetic T‘Pau along the way, too. There‘s a sense of time passing and I‘d have loved to have seen what was happening to both of them. Probably, I just wanted more of a good thing, though, and the love scene towards the end in which Spock stresses to Kirk 'I don‘t want you ever to forget me' is—umm—quite satisfying. Knowing that they will indeed meet up again on the Enterprise does help!

The first piece of fiction is 'Its Academic' by Bethany Hawke: This is an AU in the Academy, Kirk is a student and Spock an instructor and even McCoy is serving there as a doctor. AU and Academy stories are not my preference, yet this was a refreshing view of both of them in school. I loved the visuals of Spock‘s long hair. The idea that Vulcan would dump Spock when he is a baby is awful but believable and the fact that Spock suffered from a broken parental bond as an infant is touching and highlights the view of how bigoted Vulcan society could be. Since this story is so new, I won‘t give more plot details but it is a well written, delightful, younger view of all of our guys with intriguing glimpses of the men they will become.