It had been a long month.

December was a single long shot collision course of holiday after holiday after holiday after holiday. Pavel's father had spent the first few days of Hanukkah in the States, and after Kirk had caught wind of Pavel setting up for the high holy days, he had decided to invite a good chunk of the group along. (Pavel had at first been quite happy to expand his Jewish community - but that optimistic nature had quickly turned to passive aggressive annoyance once, helpful as they all tried to be, they were much more in the way of preparations then he expected. Andre found it all rather amusing, and despite the rough start, the festivities were memorable and fun.)

Halfway through, Pavel had agreed to go with Scotty back to his homeland. Christmas Eve was spent with the Scott' in a large cathedral, watching more than participating in the neighborhoods Catholic mass. The next day had been dedicated to activities for the children - plenty of snowball fights and gingerbread baking after a morning opening presents. The rest of the week, Scotty had enthusiastically dragged Pavel around town, sharing bits and pieces of his childhood as they explored the city. (The best part, however, was seeing the young man's eyes light up during the midnight parade for Hogmanay - the shock and awe was, by far, the best part of their trip.)

And now their classes had started back up - Pavel in his student research, Scotty teaching freshmen in the labs. It was strange to switch back into their previous routine after having spent so much time together, but - in a way - nice to be back to a routine.

It was mid-January, a small reprieve after people had settled back into the school mindset, and Scotty found himself catching a short lunch with none other than Hikaru Sulu in the student union building. There was a lull in their conversation over heating systems in the botany conservatories when Hikaru started to speak again.

"So what are you doing for Pasha's birthday?"

Scotty blinked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Thought his birthday was in the summer?" he asked, putting his sandwich down. "Sneaky thing wouldn't tell me an exact date, but he said it was a J month."

Hikaru gave him a blank look, which made Scotty shift uncomfortably.

"January," Hikaru said slowly, as if talking to a child. "January starts with a J."

Scotty said nothing, not quite wanting to admit that he hadnt thought of a possibility so obvious. As his ears burned, Hikaru stabbed his salad with his fork.

"So. What are you doing for his birthday?"

In a rather immature move, Scotty had skipped his early afternoon meeting, rescheduling with his student in order to discuss options with Hikaru. They went through a list of things Scotty knew about Pavel, from favorite foods to things they'd done or discussed on dates that he seemed to enjoy most. Scotty's first idea had been something to do with astronomy - and while Hikaru had agreed Pavel would find it fun and interesting, he reminded Scotty that Pavel was spending most of his time around stars as part of his research, so it might be better to think outside the box.

So Scotty went the far opposite direction and tried to think of things Pavel would love, but wouldn't be around so much. Parents and snow and Russian food were the only major things Scotty could come up with. Given that Pavel had just seen his father over the holidays, that was ruled out. Scotty had no control over California's sunny weather, so snow wasn't exactly useful. And he wasn't much of a cook, either - but he did know a handful of places that served Russian cuisine, so that was good.

"So that's food. But cold things... ice cream?"

"He'd probably like that. Pasha and sugar go together like peanut butter and chocolate. What else?" Hikaru prompted, sipping his coffee.

"Ice..." Scotty pursed his lips, thinking hard. "Ice - skating? Do they have year round places like that?"

"We're in a major city - there's probably something," he answered with a grin. "That's good though. Did you know he thought of being a skater when he was little?"

"Really now?" Scotty said in surprise.

"His mother was skater. She taught kids how to skate. He loved it."

"Oh! He showed me pictures of her." Scotty picked his sandwich back up. "He told me he wasn't very good at it though, so he studied stars instead. Are you sure its a good idea?"

Hikaru snorted.

"Maybe not good in a professional sense but trust me, he's gonna skate circles around you."

At Scotty's request, Saturday afternoon had been freed of all work.

Pavel had been kind enough to humor Scotty and wear the damn blindfold as they drove from Pavel's apartment to the small rink across town. He made plenty of corny - and relatively lewd - jokes about the scenario, but willingly went along with it, pleased about the surprise aspect of his Birthday Outing, as it had been titled. Scotty was insistent about making the situation as special as possible, and Pavel really wasn't the type to ruin such fun and excitement. In fact, he played right into it, guessing more and more outrageous ideas as they went. By the time they stopped, he had settled on the surprise being a Time Machine ready to whisk them into the future so they could visit some wild colony on the moon.

"Well now, 's not quite the moon, but it will be a bit nippy," Scotty answered, tugging the blindfold off. Pavel blinked, peering up out of the cars front window.

"Ice skating?" he said with a tone of awe. He whipped around, vibrating with anticipation. "We are ice skating?"

"Aye - really, it was Hikaru's idea - "

"I do not believe you," Pavel responded with an indignant grin.

"It was! I would've taken you to the observatory - "

"Oh!"

"Another time. Hikaru said it would be too - typical." At that Scotty felt his cheeks flame up, slightly embarrassed at his lack of creative thinking. Pavel leaned over, kissing his temple.

"It would be fun," he assured. "So what if Hikasha told you to think of something else. You are still the brilliant man who thought of this."

"Ach, now - "

"Now," Pavel interrupted. "Now we must get out and go skating. Go, go, go!"

He hopped out of the car, spring in his step as he practically bounced around to Scotty's side. Scotty couldn't help but share in the infectious joy.

"Alright then, laddie - show me what you can do."

Scotty was decent with basic skating, and spent most of his time on the ice simply trailing around the edge of the rink at a consistent speed, content to watch Pavel spin off into his own world. Hikaru hadn't been lying - Pavel could skate circles around him, that was for sure. He had already lapped over Scotty several times, probably not even noticing.

No, Pavel had taken to the ice like a duck to water, gliding effortlessly and getting lost in the smooth flow of the blades cutting into the frozen ground. He gracefully spun this way and that, winding in and out of the crowd, flitting between and around others who were set in their own simple orbits. He flew with ease, twisting and twirling in an intricate sequence.

After a while, two young children tugged his sleeve as he passed by them. It knocked him out of his thoughts, but he made sure to slow down order to find out why they had stopped him. They jumped out of sync, one of them stumbling but managing not to fall.

With a grin, Pavel had taken off, gaining speed and momentum as he coiled his route closer to the middle of the rink, and then -

He leapt from the ice, a whirlwind rising into the air, soaring across the floor. It was beautiful enough that Scotty came to a stop, watching in wonder. When Pavel landed back down with a sharp swoop, his head of curls popped up, beaming proudly at Scotty.

Who promptly fell over as another body collided with him. A basic law of inertia - a body at rest staying at rest, until someone ran him over. Standing in the middle of an ice rink definitely hadn't been his best idea.

But despite the horrifying mortification, Pavel had laughed in a kind sort of manner and slid over to help him back up.

After that, they skated together around the loop, hands held tightly ("to ensure you do not get hit again, Mitya!")

Pavel switched effortlessly between skating at Scotty's side and skating backwards to lead Scotty along.

They traded stories as they continued on. Scotty recalled moments of skating alongside his sister, of snowball fights as they slipped across the frozen ponds in their neighborhood. He fondly remembered terrible games of half-assed hockey games with his brothers that generally ended in simply chasing each other with sticks. He shared one rather vivid day when he had nearly gotten his fingers sliced off when he had tripped over a crack in the ice and his cousin had almost gone right over his splayed out hands.

Pavel shared more of his mother, who had dreamed as a little girl of representing her country with pride, and how she had almost achieved it. She had been a promising figure on the junior level circuit, and everyone had expected brilliant and beautiful accomplishments from her. But a faulty land had broken her ankle, and no matter how hard she tried to transition to the senior level circuit, she couldn't land without jarring pain. She retired early, dedicating the rest of her life to training and choreographing for other young hopefuls.

Pavel had loved helping her, becoming a mascot and cheerleader of sorts for those she worked with. The memories of speeding beside his mother, dancing across the ice in intricate circles - these were the most precious moments of his life.

Eventually they made their way off the ice, and after turning in their skates, continued off to dinner at Scotty's insistence.

The end of the evening found them outside Pavel's apartment, standing on the front steps leading to the door.

"Thank you," Pavel said quietly, a soft smile gracing his face.

"Oh now, there's no need - "

"No, really. Thank you." Pavel - standing a single step above him - pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. "This was..."

He paused, as if he couldn't quite find words to say. Scotty waited patiently.

"This was a lot," he started with a small laugh. "It was nice, and it was - it was special. You made it so wery wonderful, Mitya. Thank you."

Pavel leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Scotty's shoulders, burying his face into Scotty's neck. They stayed there in the quiet, wrapped in each other's presence. Finally, Pavel pulled away.

"I would like you to stay," he said, almost casual in how steady he managed to keep his voice.

"Are you sure? It doesn't seem too proper - "

"I think it is sweet that you want to be proper, but I do not care about proper," Pavel answered. "I want to sleep with you, and wake up with you, and make a nice breakfast with you tomorrow. It sounds much better than proper."

He said it so assuredly that Scotty couldn't help but grin and agree.

"Well, when a bonnie thing like you puts it so nicely, how could I say no?"

Mentions of Chekov's mum stem from Yulia Lipnitskaya; she is one of my favorites, and I was very sad to see her have to start and stop [and ultimately get her points dinged in a major way] due to her recurring injuries this season.

And I missed getting to go skating during the holiday season, so I am living vicariously through this mush of a fic. [[Which, I just really wanted something cute, because working through characterizations in small drabbles on Tumblr over the holidays was a feat, so I wanted a break from that for plain fluff.]]