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Spock looks at himself in the mirror, and then realizes a logical conclusion:
I’m done.
Fuck trying to live up to Vulcan standards.
I’m going to try the human ones instead.
Spock spends a few hours in meditation, trying to recall all of Kirk’s expressions...how he reacts to things. He knows this will be an enormous undertaking, wreaking potentially irreversible damage to his relationship with his father, but he knows that he must preserve his own sanity, and… No. He can’t justify this with logical reasoning alone. There is emotion to back this up, and he’s going to wholeheartedly follow it for once.
Kirk is his first “victim.” He goes for a brief, small smile. Kirk barely notices, but Spock refuses to be discouraged. Sulu tells a joke, and Spock responds to the capricious feeling welling up in himself. He’s not quite sure how to laugh, but he goes for the quiet shoulder-shaking kind. This time Sulu notices, eyes wide.
Spock continues to show more emotion to various members of the crew, trying not to scare anyone. McCoy pulls him aside during lunch break, and asks him a single question.
“Spock… Are you going into pon farr?”
Spock snickers. Spontaneously.