Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Three - Counting, Not Counting

Not that he's counting, but it takes exactly forty-four hours before Emory messages him. She tells him she's stuck on something but doesn't actually classify what on. He's a little excited at the prospect of seeing her again. She's chilled and relaxed, something he feels he kind of needs. All of his friends are a little wild and have the ability to cause him stress. Scotty stresses him a little, ignoring safety protocols for 'practical applications.' Pavel thinks he just enjoys seeing him get uncomfortable over coolant left slightly uncapped.

Emory is in the library somewhere but the Starfleet library is reasonably huge and Pavel searches the first three floors before messaging her. He stands there awkwardly waiting for a reply but she comes up behind him and makes him jump a little. He grins and hugs her, pretty amused and glad to not have to go searching for her. They find a small table in the corner and she tells him a little about the stuff they're doing in class. Pavel remembers it very clearly and doesn't actually need half of her explanation but listens anyway. He only needs a few minutes to explain (in detail) what she doesn't understand. She's kind of amazed at Pavel's depth of understanding. His retention rate is near perfect and he just knows how to explain things. He breezes over the content without looking at the textbook and basically clarifies the whole terms work within less than an hour.

"You're incredible," she says, packing her PADD back into her bag. "I really appreciate your help. You've saved me like twenty hours of study."

Pavel shrugs, "It's fine. I just get navigating. It clicks for me."

Emory shakes her head in amazement. He's only a few months older than her and he's already on the bridge of the best ship in the fleet. "Can I get you a drink for all your hard work?" She asks.

Pavel bites his lip in humour. "Should we really be drinking after last time?"

"True," she says quietly. "Can I feed you then? I make some mean caramel fudge."

Pavel's confused by the usage of the word mean in conjunction with food but he accepts and follows her back through the campus.

Emory's dorm room is the same as Pavel remembers it, just a little neater. The lamp that they had knocked over in haste has been re-erected and fixed and the kitchen bench isn't littered with spilt alcohol and shot glasses. Pavel sits down at the kitchen island where he sat last time and puts his bag down on the floor. The more he looks around the apartment the more he remembers from that night. He remembers going down on her on the couch and making out heavily on the kitchen bench.

"You getting flashbacks too?" She asks, watching him with a slightly amused grin.

He nods. "Everything's coming back in pieces."

She pulls out a container out from the fridge and Pavel asks if she has a roommate. Emory does, and she tells Pavel about the Vulcan T'mas she shares the place with.

"Let me tell you, she was reasonably concerned finding out about the night we had. I think she disinfected the bench like ten times."

Pavel tries to bite back a grin but ends up laughing a little. "I'm so sorry," he says, laughing. "Does she know about the couch or the shower?"

Emory shakes her head and grins again. "Please don't tell her, I honestly think she would have to move to a less contaminated dorm." She passes Pavel a piece of fudge and takes the seat beside him, putting a whole cube directly in her mouth. Pavel's impressed with the cooking and tells her about the terrible cooking he endured in Russian. He grew up in a family where no one could cook and 90% of his meals were toast, eggs or instant noodles. Any kind of homemade sweets became very welcomed by Pavel. He can cook a little better now, mainly thanks to Alec who was patient enough to teach him.

They stay on the couch for a long while after they've finished eating. Pavel keeps thinking about that night, what they were doing in the exact same place that they're sitting now. He shuffles uncomfortably at the thought and tries to take him mind away. She's thinking the same thing, remembering what they were doing that night. She probably enjoyed what happened on the couch the most. There was a lot of 'fooling around' before they actually went all the way. He seemed to like making her happy, physically at least. It was a lot more pleasurable than a few of the other one night stands she'd had.

(A/N)

Some of these title chapters are reasonably noncreative, so apologies for that. Thank you for reading, any comments are appreciated. Despite what it probably seems like at the moment, this isn't your average and cliched fanfiction. Stay tuned.
- Lucky