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The door chimes in a familiar way as it scans and accepts Spock’s code, the door unlocking and granting him entrance to his own home.
For a moment, he forgets the circumstances of what has transpired, the apartment flooding with sunlight as the automations that Jim programmed begin. The sound of the classic instant brewer brimming into life as the water inside of the canister begins to boil. The small scale replicator that Jim had modded it with bringing up Spock’s favorite mug and materializing beneath the spout.
The thermostat beeps happily as it raises the temperature a few degrees higher, the warmth welcomed in Spock’s old bones as he crosses the threshold, his bag dropping into the hardwood floor with a thud.
The water begins to pour from the machine, and Spock can already smell the aroma of the Vulcan Spice he had brought back a few months ago when he and Jim had visited his parents.
The water stops, and a familiar audio notification plays, “You’re tea is ready, honey.” And it makes Spock’s face pale. He retches where he sits, head whipping towards the kitchenette just to make sure that the whole ordeal of the last week hadn’t been a nightmare and that Jim was standing in the kitchenette with the mug in hand as he brought it to Spock.
But it was empty, the audio message ending with a soft blip as Spock exhales with a shudder. It must have been one of the new things Jim added to the house, knowing that there was going to be a time where he wasn’t home to bring Spock his tea.
And it’s in that moment that Spock loses himself, he hunches over, bending himself almost in half as he allows his hands to cradle his face as he begins to weep.