Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Twenty Five - Silence

Sulu enters his dorm room on the ship and takes a few seconds to look around. It's basically the same as last time, just a few little details that have changed. Pavel's sitting on the couch but doesn't look up when Sulu comes in. He's reading something on his PADD and he's tapping his foot gently against the floor.

"What did she say?" Pavel asks, still not looking up.

Sulu rolls his eyes and ignores the question. He's honestly a little agitated at Pavel for being so cold. He's more agitated after not even getting a 'hey, how are you?' or passing glance. Pavel knows he's angered his friend and sighs to himself, putting his PADD down and leaning back. Sulu starts unpacking his things in his bedroom and puts a small pot plant beside his bed. He feels like he's carrying a little part of Earth with him. He lies down on his bed for a while. He doesn't technically start duty for another hour but he's really not looking forward to it. He doesn't want to spend the whole shift next to Pavel, especially after seeing Emory break down because of him. He sets an alarm on his PADD and quickly falls asleep.

Pavel's already gone by the time Sulu is up. He expected this. Pavel is always always early. He doesn't know how things will go once he's on the bridge but he's not looking forward to finding out.

Kirk is the first to notice that something's up. He catches Sulu's eye and points to Pavel, mouthing 'Emory?' Sulu just nods and Kirk picks up his PADD, sending a message to Sulu's console.

"What's up with you and Pavel? I swear it's not just him that's a little off..."

"He's just said and done a few things that I don't agree with."

"Emory?"

"Yep."

Pavel can tell they're both messaging and he figures it's probably about him. He feels cold and still wants to know what Emory said. He figures he'll ask when things clear up with Sulu. It seems like all of his relationships are a little strained recently. He didn't get to say a proper goodbye to Alec and Scotty was quite annoyed in finding out Pavel used him to get on board the Enterprise early to escape Emory. He sighs gently to himself and tries to focus on his work. The view screen has a beautiful view of the stars and he's glad to be moving through space again. He missed the stars whilst he was on Earth. He could still see them from the academy but it was never the same as being amongst them.

The rest of the shift passes slowly and Pavel ends up leaving the shift the same time as Sulu. Sulu goes to the mess hall so Pavel decides that he should go somewhere else. He goes back into his dorm room and replicates something to eat. He feels empty and a little lost, hoping that he can attribute it to fatigue. He lies on top of his bed for a while and considers reading Emory's messages. He doesn't want to have a conversation with her but he's still curious to find out what she said. He picks up his PADD and holds it for a few seconds, putting it back down again and sighing. He'd normally be down in engineering in his free time but since Scotty's still annoyed with him he thinks it's best to stay in his room.

Sulu is hoping to avoid talking with Pavel but when he finally returns but as soon as enters his room Pavel apologises. He didn't mean to be rude to Sulu; he's just been all over the place recently. Sulu tells him it's fine, even though it doesn't seem like it. He still seems tense and annoyed and Pavel doesn't really know what he can do outside of apologise. They go to bed and Pavel hopes the morning will be a little less awkward.

Morning is no different, Sulu is still standoffish and not in a mood to talk. Pavel considers asking if it's leaving his family for an indefinite amount of time. He decides against it and goes through another quiet shift on the bridge. He doesn't like feeling this alone and wonders if messaging Emory might clear things up a little. He wants to message Emory but he doesn't want to actually talk to her. He knows she'll be either very upset or very angry at him.
       
Either way, he isn't sure he's ready to handle that. When he gets back to his room he spends two hours alone and cracks, finally reading her messages after seemingly ages. There's a lot asking where he was and a few telling him not to be so cruel. He feels a pang of guilt and wonders if what he does was actually as cruel as she's making it seem. He hasn't taken any time to actually think about his actions, which isn't really like him. He lies back on the couch and takes a breath, realising that he's made a huge mistake.

(A/N)
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