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Flower Symbolism

Chapter 4

Notes:

Hmmm...this took a slightly different turn from what I had in mind.
Ugh. Words. They never listen to anything I say.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Hikaru was weak with relief when nothing changed.

Well, okay, that wasn't entirely accurate. Gossip spread like wildfire and within 24 hours everyone knew that he and Pavel were in a relationship, and he was pretty sure he saw Kirk give McCoy some credits. So there were a lot of congratulations and more than a few shovel talks. Scotty had given him some of his illegal alcohol and told him "Ya hurt the lad, ya leave the ship." Gaila's had been the most terrifying. She'd given him a shark-like smile and said, "You so much as bruise his little Russian heart, I'll make sure you never get laid ever again."

She'd done it to a few guys at the Academy, brutally butchering their reputations, so Hikaru knew she wasn't lying.

The upside to all of this was the kissing. Pavel had said he wanted to take it slow and Hikaru respected that. He knew the reasons behind that, and would've felt a lot better if he could've gotten his hands on that bastard Chaz, but Pavel had already taken care of him, so he settled for the dummies in the gym. It didn't go beyond heavy make-out sessions for a while, and Hikaru loved the fact that Pavel was a genius, because he went from woefully inexperienced to grandmaster in two weeks. (Pavel later admitted that Gaila was mostly responsible for that, sharing much of her endless wisdom on the subject. Hikaru sent her a bouquet of flowers.) The downside was that Pavel got almost too good. He'd pull back with his lips red, hair tussled, and eyes dark, looking simply edible, and then nervously look away and find a reason to go. "I hawe a shift at Engineering today." "Spock vanted to go ower some readings vith me." "If I don't leawe for poker now, Uhura vill take all of McCoy's money." Hikaru would let him go without complaint, despite the raging hard-on, and as soon as he was alone went to his get lube.

But other than the shovel talks, and the kisses that ranged from quick good-bye pecks to a fantastic half-hour alone in one of their rooms, and the fact that Hikaru replicated a lot more lubricant than usual, nothing changed. They were still Lieutenant Sulu and Ensign Chekov, pilot and navigator of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Pavel still ignored normal sleep schedules and went on scientific tangents only two or three people understood. Hikaru still fenced and tended to his botanical collection. The two of them still sparred and joked and worked together.

It went at that soothing, glacial pace for about three months. Then there was an AMGW (away mission gone wrong).

It actually wasn't that bad, comparatively speaking. No angry aliens trying to skewer them with primitive spears, no Klingon pirates trying to blow up the ship, no Romulans trying to destroy another planet. Sulu and Chekov went down with some geologists and botanists on an uninhabited planet, no animal life forms bigger than a dog, to collect samples. Sulu was with the botanists, and Chekov was there as part of the few engineers doing equipment maintenance.

Then the ground shifted, grumbling beneath their feet, and Sulu had just enough time to think earthquake before the ground gave way beneath his feet and he was falling and Pavel was screaming his name, and something hit his head and everything went dark.

Hikaru woke up in medical with a bandage wrapped around his head. The fall had been short: fifteen feet. He'd hit his head on a rock and had a moderate concussion. McCoy was griping and stabbing him with hypos while Pavel fluttered around them. Only one other person had gotten hurt, a geologist who had sprained her ankle. So all in all, it barely qualified as an AMGW.

That night, as Hikaru was getting ready for bed, there was a knock on his door. Suppressing a tired groan, he went to open it, and was pleasantly surprised to find his boyfriend. "Pavel?"

Pavel was holding a duffel bag and looking at the floor. He swallowed. "Can I...um...spend the night?"

Hikaru blinked at him. "Yeah, sure."

In Hikaru's previous relationships, "spend the night" usually translated to "share at least two orgasms each." But given Pavel's tone and body language (and Hikaru's concussion), Hikaru did not think this was the case.

Hikaru finished brushing his teeth and washing his face while Pavel changed into his sleepwear. He went straight to his bed, dropping down on the mattress with a contented sigh and dozed while Pavel took his turn in the bathroom. If his head hadn't been swimming with the concussion and drugs McCoy had pumped him with, he would've basked in the casual domesticity of it all, the way they naturally fell into this pattern. As it was, he was just happy to be mostly horizontal.

He stirred when he felt fingers on his face, brushing against the bandage on his head. Hikaru cracked his eyes open to see Pavel standing over him, hesitantly touching him as if he would shatter at any moment.

"Vhen you fell," Pavel whispered. "I thought...there vas so much blood and you..."

Ah.

Hikaru took Pavel's hand and kissed his palm, giving him a smile. "I'm not going anywhere."

Pavel swallowed and crawled into bed. He curled up on Hikaru's chest, head right over his sternum so he could hear the heartbeat. Hikaru wrapped his arms around this most precious human being and buried his nose in his hair. He absolutely loved Pavel's hair, the way the curls wrapped around his fingers as if they never wanted him to let go. They fell asleep wrapped around each other and Hikaru knew he never wanted to be anywhere else.

--

Pavel's things trickled into Hikaru's room after that, turning the smaller ensign's quarters into more of a storage or private study than anything else.

Hikaru came to his room one day about a month after getting knocked in the head to find the furniture had been shifted just a bit. It filled him with both pride and dread. The dread always came whenever a necessary habit from Pavel's dark past presented itself. In this case: mapping out the room and clearing the way of obstacles for a speedy exit. Pride, because it meant Pavel was thinking about their relationship in the long-term, even if only subconsciously. One didn't move someone else's furniture unless they planned to stay awhile.

When Hikaru's birthday came around, Pavel got him a Gor'ac tree that was the same age. Its name was Kari. Hikaru laughed, remembering Pavel's eighteenth on the ship, and kissed him on the nose.

When Pavel put his own Gor'ac tree Pascha on the same shelf in Hikaru's room as Kari, Hikaru smiled all day.

--

Pavel never stayed when he had a nightmare. Hikaru would wake up to Pavel's quiet whimpers of distress, or when he'd already be awake and slipping out of bed. He'd grab a PADD or whatever needed work, put on some clothes and slip out to an observation deck. The bed never felt warm after that.

--

The first time they had sex was at the third-year anniversary of the ship's five-year mission. They ended up in Hikaru's room, hands in each other's hair and mouths clashing. Hikaru had had a glass of champagne too many as he steered them to the bed and ended up on top of Pavel. He didn't resist when Pavel flipped them, pressing Hikaru into the mattress. He never, ever wanted Pavel to feel trapped or penned in, especially not when they were intimate. So whenever they were, Hikaru always made sure they were on equal footing or Pavel was dominant, sitting on Hikaru's lap on the couch or pinning him to the wall.

They came up for air, panting and breathing into each other. Pavel shifted, and Hikaru could feel his erection against his stomach and knew Pavel could feel his against his thigh.

Hikaru loosened his grip on Pavel, keeping his hands on his hips but easy to shake off. "Do you have somewhere you need to be?" he asked.

Pavel considered it for a long moment, looking into space above Hikaru's head. He looked back down at Hikaru, shook his head with a "nyet," and kissed him again.

--

Pavel had a nightmare that night, one of his recurring visitors (three guesses at to which). But instead of leaving he stayed in bed, letting Hikaru hold him tight as they both went back to sleep.

--

The first AMGW that involves Pavel being attacked and hurt ends with eleven hostile aliens dead by Hikaru's hand. Or rather, his sword.

Never mind that Pavel looked after himself, bringing down his attackers with his own extensive combat skills, needing no rescue, and ending the day with nothing more serious than a broken arm. Hikaru was there when that bone broke, he heard Pavel's cry of pain. His vision didn't stop burning red until after they were back on the Enterprise.

Kirk scolded him for being hard on the aliens; they could've easily gotten away with Hikaru only killing six of them. He then told him to stop moping around the bridge and go down to medical, "Before your boyfriend and Bones kill each other."

--

The first "I love you" came with a rose bush.

Hikaru laughed when he came down to the botany lab to find Pavel there holding the small, potted plant. "Now you hawe no excuse the next time you vant to giwe me flowers," Pavel said, giving the blooming plant to Hikaru.

Hikaru set the plant on the table, ran his fingers through Pavel's curls and kissed him. "I love you," he said against his lips.

Pavel smiled, shy and bright. "I lowe you, too."

Notes:

There might (MIGHT) be one more story in this series. A previous commenter mentioned wanting to see Pavel needing rescuing and therefore having to explicitly trust member(s) of the Enterprise. We'll see. Might be a 5+1. Stay tuned!

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