Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
Obsessed with pre-Enterprise Kirk being "grim and bookish". We have a canon back story of him ruining a guy's career by reporting a mistake because Starfleet regulations required it. He's rising through the ranks but is manifestly made unhappy by the pressures of command, as he admits to Bones in Balance of Terror.
But then so often in TOS he's this flirty heart eyes motherfucker. The only possible explanation for this change in personality is Spock? That's the major thing that's changed in his life, the presence of this weird tall alien who says absolutely wild shit with a completely straight face and makes Kirk stop taking everything so seriously
I love the tribbles episode because we see this in action. Kirk is pissed off the whole episode and then he goes to the mess hall and sees Spock petting the tribble and he almost SOBS. It's like "Ok. Bad day but everything's gonna be alright. Spock is here and he's doing his weird thing. This is my gravitational constant."
Isn't it kind of beautiful that the guy everyone thinks is unemotional is the exact person that makes Kirk step back and look at the universe with a sense of humor?