Angels (Pavel Chekov)

58 - Dancing Fever

Vienna goes to dance after her class and finds Selwyn looking a little on edge. He doesn't even notice her sitting down beside him and she asks if he's alright. He nods but gives no extra information, just tying up his shoes and stretching. Vienna notices that he has repaired them.

Selwyn dances a lot worse than usual. He misses a lot of the timing and misses a lot of steps. He nearly knocks Vienna over at one point and hastily apologises. He tells her he needs a minute or two and disappears into the change rooms.

Vienna waits a few minutes before deciding to follow and she finds Selwyn sitting cross-legged near his bag. His face has a pale blue tinge to it and she wonders if that's normal for his species. He looks up when he hears Vienna coming in, looking back down and rubbing his face.

"You want to tell me what's happening?" She asks, taking a seat next to him.

"It's hard to explain," he says quickly. "I've got a fever."

"So, you're sick? Why are you out and about if you're unwell then?"

"Because this sort of thing from my home planet doesn't affect me like how a fever would affect Terrans. If you get sick, you probably get vomiting or temperatures or tiredness. What I've got manifests its symptoms in anxiety. I'm not explaining it well. I'm fine, I'm just more anxious than normal."

"What exactly are you anxious about?"

"Technically everything. I've got a cracked tooth and I have to go see about it but I don't like dentists and I'm too nervous to go and book an appointment."

"Funny you say that," Vienna smiles, looking at him. "I'm a dentist. I'm happy to have a look at your teeth if you want. I can tell how long it'll take and how bad it is."

"That would be hugely helpful, thank you."

Selwyn asks that they go back to his dorm room and Vienna doesn't argue. He has an almost concerning amount of plants around and Vienna decides she likes them. Selwyn puts his things down and apologises for all the plants. They belong to his roommate and have basically taken over the place. Vienna takes her gloves from her bags and Selwyn seems to tense up a little more.

"I'm just looking," she says, trying to be as comforting as possible. "Just lay down on the lounge and hold still for me, okay?"

He nods, laying down and looking up at the ceiling. She moves a lamp over to give her some better light and she takes out a small scanner probe, asking him to open his mouth. Her eyes widen a little when she sees his teeth. She has done a few simulations on his species but she can't quite remember the name.

"If you don't mind my asking, what is your species called? I've done a few practises on this type before but I can't remember the name."

"I'm a Kelzenone," he says, softly.

Vienna nods and keeps looking, inspecting his cracked tooth.

"It's not super bad. Shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes. You know, you could always just book an appointment on your PADD. You don't have to go over to medbay if you don't want to. You'd probably have an appointment for late this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I wouldn't worry about it though. The procedure isn't going to hurt or anything."

"Thank you," Selwyn says softly, sitting up. "I appreciate it. I'm sorry I dragged you out of dance early."

Vienna smiles, telling him not to worry about. "I better go but I'll give you my contact. Just message me if I can give you a hand with anything."

He thanks her again and she goes, wondering what Pavel and Erik are doing. She heads back to her room to have a shower and the place is empty. She's glad to have the place to herself for a little and she washes her hair, thinking about how long Erik might be staying for.

Vienna has a missed call from Erik when she gets out of the shower and she rings him back, running a towel through her hair. Erik asks if she knows where Pavel is and she's pretty sure he's in engineering. Erik asks when Pavel started studying engineering as well as navigation and she laughs, explaining about how Pavel's roommate brought him along one time and he just got super interested in it.

"My brother is a whole other breed. I swear we're not even related sometimes. When will he pick up his phone? I was going to go back to his dorm room, but I don't even know where it is."

"You're welcome to come back here. I'm sure as soon as I tell Pavel that you're here he'll know to pick up his phone."

Erik laughs and thanks her, hanging up and heading over. Vienna puts some clothes on before finishing drying her hair. Erik knocks on her door about ten minutes later and she lets him in, asking how his day in the city was. He shows her a shirt he found and a few other bits and pieces. He asks her how her classes went and she tells him about dancing that afternoon.

"You know, we could try a few steps together while my brother's not here, how about it?"

She grins, shaking her head. "I respect that he doesn't want me dancing with you. I'm sure he'll try and dance with me one day."

Erik rolls his eyes light heartedly and hears his phone start buzzing. "You were right, that didn't take long." He answers the phone and tells Pavel that he's at Vienna's dorm room and Pavel hangs up immediately. Erik laughs and Vienna bites back a grin. Pavel makes it over in just under four minutes and Vienna can't help but laugh when he knocks at the door.

"He's not flirting, is he??"

"You're too cute, Pavel."

It's a Friday night and Erik suggests they crack open the bottle of scotch that Pavel got for his birthday. He eagerly agrees and Vienna raises an eyebrow at the two of them. Pavel pours them both a glass and asks if Vienna will drink as well. She just shakes her head and watches at the two of them clink their glasses together.

Erik's theory about Pavel being either giggly-drunk or sleepy-drunk is exactly correct. Pavel switches to a weird Russian/English mix and giggles at everything Vienna and Erik say. He tells Vienna he loves her as much he can and Erik rolls his eyes every time.

Pavel stumbles a little into the bathroom and Vienna worries about him.

"He doesn't hold alcohol well. He's so small, it hits him really hard. We used to drink together a lot when it was summer break. Our grandparents live out on this huge property and Pavel and I used to walk a kilometer or so away from the main house and go 'camping' but just get smashed together and talk about everything. We'd drink so much we'd be dying in a field and our parents had no idea. We'd pitch tents, but Pavel always insisted on sleeping outside with the stars over him. Such an easier time. We did that for a few years. Pavel started talking less at one point but it was still... It was still what I liked most about spending time together."

"Dying in a field? Sounds like a strange way to bond but it's nice to hear that you shared something like that. Pavel's never told me about it before."

"I'm not surprised. If you're not a drinker, he probably thinks that you'll see him badly for nearly dying out in the middle of fields."

"What did I do?" Pavel asks, coming back and making his way back slowly to where they're sitting. Vienna helps him lower himself down without falling over and he smiles at her.

Pavel pulls his journal from under the sofa and starts writing in it. His handwriting is so messy and Vienna can't help but grin at him. Erik says something in Russian and Pavel just giggles instead of replying. Vienna runs a hand through his hair and he hums softly. He says something softly to her and she asks Erik for a translation, which he doesn't give.

"He'll kill me if I translate that. Let's just say he's really quite affectionate at the moment."

"You are so pretty Vienna, I think you're so pretty."

"I zhink you're pretty too, Pasha," she laughs, imitating his accent and kissing his cheek. Erik rolls his eyes again, not loving being the third wheel. Pavel keeps writing and leans on Vienna's shoulder, only managing another few sentences before falling asleep. She smiles at him, closing his journal and moving it off of him.