Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Nine - Second Time's A Charm

After drinking himself stupid after bad breakup number two, Pavel finds himself emptying his stomach into the toilet again. In his own bath room this time, not in the bathroom of an attractive heartbreaker. He still feels a burning anger towards her but tries not to think about it too much. He groans unhappily and rest his head against the cold wall tiles.

Pavel's nursing a glass of water on the couch when there's a knock at the door. He feels like he knows who it is but he opens it anyway and he's right.

"Aye, Emory. I'm so hung over, don't do this please." Pavel realises how Russian his accent is and he leans against the door frame, hoping that Emory will actually listen to him and leave.

"Pav, please just give me a moment."

"Emory, I'm not interested. There's no point if you can't do long distance. There's no point you being miserable because you're in a relationship you don't want to be in."

"I got put on the Enterprise."

There's a silence as Pavel tries to comprehend what she's saying. He blinks a few times and opens his mouth, not really knowing what to say. He just motions for her to come in and closes the door, rubbing his head a little and considering taking another aspirin or something. He wants to deal with this later but he figures he can't.

"So, you got assigned to the Enterprise, this morning?"

"Yeah, about ten minutes ago."

Pavel realises that probably meant she came straight to him and tries to push the thought away.

"Why the Enterprise, you're only first year?"

"It's a long story and I haven't worked it out either. I'm not top of my class or anything like I was barely passing until I met you. I don't know why but..." She stops for a second, pushing words around her mouth but not saying them. "I'm just glad it happened."

"Emory...."

"I get it if you don't want to try and start things again. Like we weren't even together a day and I messed you up pretty badly."

"Well," Pavel says quietly, "It was a pretty good almost day, for the most part."

She looks up at him and smiles, feeling a little more relieved that he's not bitter. They were both a little surprised at his tone yesterday; cold and harsh. Very un-Pavel-like, if anything. Pavel puts his arm around her and pulls her into a hug. They both need a hug and it's nice just to not feel any kind of tension between them. He runs his hand across the top of her head and Alec emerges from his room instantly shooting Pavel a look. Alec rolls his eyes and mouthes 'no' but Pavel ignores him. Alec goes back into his room and Pavel kisses Emory's head gently.

"Pav? Can we make this work? Please?"

"Yeah," Pavel mutters. "We can try."

When Emory leaves for class Alec is quick to sit Pavel back down on the couch. Pavel knows there's a lecture or an intervention of sorts coming his way and he figures that there is little he can actually do about it.

"You're making a mistake." Pavel blinks at him blankly. "You're taking this way too fast, man. You're not over your first ex and you know that. Now getting back with a second one, after like one day? You're crazy. This is gonna mess you up and you're gonna be alone. You need to take some time for yourself and them come back when you're over your ex."

"I am over her," Pavel mutters defiantly.

Alec huffs and raises an eyebrow. "Look, you guys were together for what, a year and a half? A little less? You can't get over that in one night. Not healthily anyway."

Pavel sighs and leans his head back on the couch. He has a sinking feeling that Alec is right but one part of him won't accept it. He likes Emory, probably way too much. She just balances him out and makes him feel less alone, something that he needs after going from a strong relationship to being single. Pavel prefers having someone over being alone. He craves affection as well as intimacy, despite it not being a thought he voices often. Alec sits next to him and Pavel closes his eyes, feeling a little embarrassed for a reason he can't find.

"I really like her, though."

"Yeah, and she likes you too. She'll wait for you Pavel, you just need to have an honest conversation with her."

Pavel frowns and nods. He knows that she would wait for him. He just doesn't want to wait. He also doesn't understand how she suddenly got onto the Enterprise. He figured it's a little suspicious but tries not to focus on it. Pavel goes back to bed and sleeps for a while to try and ease his headache. He feels well enough to go back down to engineering once he wakes up and Scotty goes over the door lock system with him. Pavel has a pretty solid grasp on a lot of the engineering concepts he's been introduced to but finds himself a little out of place with the smaller tasks. He tried to rewire his own PADD and nearly electrocuted himself. He knows there's a lot that he can improve on and learn from the engineering department. He's glad that he has Scotty to walk him through everything as well as keep him amused. 

(A/N)

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