Hikaru Sulu had always wanted a little brother. Someone he could show the world, the stars, and the universe. He wanted to show someone how to use a sword, how to fly a ship, how bright and amazing the universe was. He would have given anything for a brother, constantly badgering his mother until she sat him down and explained to him that there was just no way he was going to get a little brother because they couldn't afford it. Still he prayed, each and every night, and asked Santa each Christmas. He even would have made a deal with the devil. But the years passed and he never got a brother; he had friends, but none he would consider family, and none he could consider a brother. When he first saw Kirk, it was at the assembly, and he wasn't really paying attention, his head instead dreaming of flying across the stars. And then when he saw him the second time, Pike was asking for trained hand-to-hand combatants and Sulu raised his hand, proud to show off his skill. When he was strapping in, ready for a fall onto a pinprick in the distance, he spoke to him for the first time and felt like an older brother. He wasn't nervous but he could feel the excitement and nervousness rolling off Kirk. After the drop, (and the unfortunate loss of the chief engineer), he truly felt the role of the older brother, the protector, the supporter, when he saved Kirk's life and hauled him back onto the drill. And then, when disaster struck, he knew he would never get his wish, never create a bond like the one he so desired, and his heart broke, but something was clinging on tightly, holding him together and shouting at him, and he obeyed, pulling the string that deployed the chute, but the flare of hope that he had at the warm arms surrounding him was withdrawn. But then they were landing, not on the hard, hungry Vulcan ground, but on the warm, firm body of the man he had hoped would become his little brother. Who asked the question Sulu was supposed to, "Are you all right?" and then everything moved too quickly, Kirk being stranded, coming back (with a odd, very odd, companion who kept asking about sandwiches and making Sulu very hungry) and Spock throwing Kirk into the consoles and then leaving. And suddenly Sulu knew. He was never destined to be an older brother, he was never meant to be the leader and protector. He had been following his entire life, first his father and then his friends, then his officers and now, now he would follow his older brother, one that threw himself off a drill to save him, one who didn't hesitate to fight with a Vulcan. He would follow Kirk to the ends of the universe and with a few words he sealed his deal "Pike made him first officer before he left."