Angels (Pavel Chekov)

100 - Where the Heart Is

Pavel and Vienna stay in the tent for a little while whilst the dogs are around. Pavel sits close to her and reads the books in Russian to her. She copies some of the words that she recognises and he corrects her pronunciation. Her reading is particularly slow so they take it in turns reading. He helps translate, smiling at the faces she makes in concentration.

Erik calls out in Russian and Vienna beams when she understands. He simply told them that the dogs had gone but she's glad she picked something up. He kisses her cheek and congratulates her softly. When they get back out Erik is already trying to reconfigure the laser tag guns and Pavel sits down and helps him.

"What is laser tag?" Selwyn asks, inspecting one of the guns.

"Like tag but with lasers."

"Tag?"

"Ummm, chasey? Tig? Tiggy? Tag? Touch? Never hear of it?"

Selwyn shakes his head and Vienna makes Saxon and Hikaru stand up to help her demonstrate. He listens carefully and Vienna finished her explanation by going up to Selwyn and touching his shoulder. She tells him he's 'it' and moves away. He gets up, smiling and reaching for Vienna, who ducks out of the way. Selwyn sprints after them and they run away. Vienna realises she's breaking into childlike giggles but can't bring herself to care. She's enjoying it too much and the other seem to be too.

By the time Pavel and Erik have the laser tag equipment set up, everyone else needs to sit down for a few minutes to catch their breath. Pavel just hooks his arms around Vienna's waist and asks if they'll play on separate teams for the game.

"Oh definitely," she says. "I must warn you, I'm pretty good."

"We'll see," he teases, pulling her a little closer.

Selwyn, Saxon and Vienna team up and they talk strategy for a little while before figuring out where to set up their base. Saxon wants to climb a tree and hide it up there but the rules state it has to be on the ground or at eye level. Saxon points out that his eye level would be a lot higher than Vienna's, but they go for a walk and scout out a place to hide it anyway.

"I'm not fond of the dark," Selwyn admits, looking around the bushes and shrubbery.

"Saxon will look after you," Vienna smiles.

"Not you?"

"Oh, I'm pretty useless in the dark," Vienna mutters. "I'm a little frightened too."

"Guess it's up to me to look after you two," Saxon laughs. "I'm not scared of the dark. I grew up travelling around the country's most haunted places on the weekends. I've seen a few poltergeists in my time. Though, your boyfriend is just about as pale as a ghost. Don't get frightened by him, okay."

Vienna laughs and they get ready to play. She goes scouting alone for a little while the boys guard the base. She gets lucky and spots the three of them. She climbs up a tree so they don't spot her lights and she grins to herself, figuring it could be a really easy win. Pavel and Hikaru head off together and she watches them, figuring they might take a while to find the base with the direction they're walking in. She waits a while and silently climbs down the tree, heading around the back and climbing another tree. She waits until Erik wanders right near her before shooting him a few times. He notices his lights blinking and looks around, raising his gun. She only needs to land a few more shots before she has him down. She shoots twice more and his lights flicker out. He swears loudly and looks around. Vienna laughs and Erik looks up.

"That was far easier than I imagined it would be."

She takes aim and shoots the base until the lights flicker out and grins at Erik. The stickers on their chests flash white, signalling the game is over. Erik rolls his eyes and walks back with her, muttering that he's going to cop so much shit for letting everyone down. Vienna laughs and sees Pavel and Hikaru in the distance.

"Erik, what the fuck?" Hikaru calls. Once close enough, Hikaru comes and ruffles Erik's hair and tells him they're swapping teams next game. Pavel follows the statement with a few choice insults in Russian and Erik goes to ruffle Pavel's hair, getting swiftly kicked in the shin for it.

"Don't touch my fucking hair, Erik," Pavel says, glaring at his brother.

Hikaru goes to touch it and Pavel ducks away, giving him the same icy glare. Vienna sticks her hand in his hair and Pavel does nothing but raise an eyebrow at her.

"Whipped," Erik mutters, finding a box of cookies and sticking one in his mouth.

Vienna takes the chance to explain how she won the game for them and Hikaru rolls his eyes. Saxon and Selwyn run over cheering and pick Vienna up. She's on their shoulders in a matter of seconds and giggling, trying not to move too much and fall off. She feels like a giant and they bring her down gently.

"Erik and I get Vienna this time," Hikaru says, getting a nod from the rest of the group. Pavel gives her a smile and they disappear back into the darkness.

Vienna manages to be on the winning team for the next three games. They decide to play again another night and sit down to drink for a little longer before going to bed. There's music playing and they're talking about the future and everything that might be coming their way. Pavel has his hand on Vienna's knee and is getting lost in thought.

"I'm scared I'm losing my culture," Selwyn says, when there's a silence. "I don't belong here. I need to go back to Kelzenone. I feel empty without everything that I thought made me a Kelzenone."

Saxon is the one to speak, and his voice is so much softer than anyone anticipated. "Have you ever heard the expression 'home is where the heart is?'"

"I haven't."

"It means that your home isn't where you come from. Home isn't where you live. It's wherever you're happy, wherever you're comfortable. It's wherever your heart is. Maybe your heart is on Kelzenone. Maybe it's here. Maybe it's both here and on Kelzenone but you need to know that you do belong here. You're just as much a part of this planet as any of us. You do belong here, Selwyn and we're lucky to have you."

Selwyn looks away and brushes his eyes with his sleeves. Vienna wasn't sure if he even could cry but apparently he can, and he does. Saxon grins and puts his arm around him, telling him softly that he doesn't need to be sad.

"Humans are a strange race," Selwyn says, wiping his eyes again. "I've never met a crazier, more kind-hearted race. Thank you. Maybe I need to do some more thinking. Maybe I do belong here."

Saxon goes to ruffles his hair and Selwyn ducks out of the way quickly. Vienna and Pavel share the same look and smile at one another.

(Author's Note)

Someone: Oh so what writing do you do?
Internal me: Star Trek fanfiction about cute Russian boys
Me to them: Ahhhhhh space adventures and stuff