Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Eighteen - Masterpiece

There are a few people Pavel doesn't recognise in his dorm room and it doesn't concern him as much as seeing Alec asleep on top of the kitchen bench. Pavel wakes him gently and he looks up, groggy and confused. He has pen all over his face and Pavel wonders if someone replicated the marker purely with the intention of drawing genitals on Alec's forehead. Emory stifles a laugh and Pavel tells him to go look in the mirror while he replicates him some medication for his headache. They hear a muffled groan coming from the bathroom and look at each other, a subtle grin on their faces. Alec comes back out and removes his shirt, showing an array of drawings and writing.

Emory and Pavel crack up as they start reading some of them, getting him to turn around so they can read them all. He has 'Boner Garage' written on his tailbone with an arrow pointing down and it's probably their favourite of the artwork. He has 'Property of Karlson' and 'I heart Titties' across his shoulders and multitude of dicks drawn on him but he doesn't seem to be surprised. Emory asks if she can get a photo of his back for future inspiration and grins a little to herself. Alec replicates some soap that he hopes will work and leaves to have a shower. Emory mutters 'boner garage' under her breath and asks if this is a frequent occurrence with Alec. Pavel feels like it is.

Emory has class just before lunch and Pavel finally returns to engineering for the simulations he still needs to do. He isn't as nervous as he expected but that's probably because Emory is on his mind again. He keeps thinking about how tempted he was to kiss her and how crazy he felt when she'd said she wanted to kiss him to. He nearly walks into a pole and tells himself he needs to start concentrating on engineering.

Scotty pushes Pavel hard and the simulations are freakishly realistic but he gets a pretty decent time. Scotty makes him redo it to improve and he does, by a whole thirty seconds. He feels a lot more confident in himself than he did in the last simulations and he can only hope it's because he's starting to get better. He stays in engineering for the afternoon and helps a few first year students prepare for their practical exams. They have to create a distress beacon using a random bunch of objects in less than fifteen minutes. A few of them get it eventually but some of them have no clue what they're doing. They frustrate Pavel, lacking what he considers basic knowledge. He explains it quietly for the fourth time and they finally get it. Pavel sighs and retires to his dorm, tired but content.

Alec has started cleaning up and there are no strangers left passed out on the floor. The lights are all off and Pavel wonders if Alec is out somewhere. He goes into his room and lies on the bed for a while, just letting himself rest. He feels warm and content. One part of him just wants to sleep but he also knows he needs to eat something. He pushes himself up off the bed and moves into the kitchen, replicate food rather than cooking anything. He opts for a Russian dish, realising he hasn't had any dishes from his homeland since Irina happened. Irina loved Russian food and Pavel loved her, so they spent a lot of time eating anything Russian together. He misses speaking Russian as well, something he hasn't done in what feels like forever either.

Pavel finally calls his mother and tells her what happened. He tells her he doesn't like talking about it and surprisingly, she doesn't inundate him with questions as he'd expected. He tells her she cheated on him, something he didn't think he'd do but he feels better once the words leave his mouth. She tells him she's sorry he had to go through everything he did and he brushes it off. He messages Emory once he's finished calling and tells her he finally did it. He falls asleep still in his uniform and wakes up a few hours later when Alec comes home. He's with someone Pavel doesn't recognise but they seem to be a little preoccupied. They start pulling each other's clothes off and move quickly into Alec's room, the door closing after them. Pavel just raises an eyebrow and listens to some music to some music to get to sleep. He can still hear Alec and the girl he's with so he gradually turns the music up until he can't hear them anymore.