"True Colours" - Keshia Chanté

Right when he needed a friend, Pavel stepped into his life. They were instantly friends, laughing easily and having intelligent conversations. Hikaru considered Pavel to be like his brother, they were so close. Through the good times and the bad, the emotional ups and down, Pavel was always there for him. Hikaru trusted Pavel in a way that he had never trusted anyone before; he trusted him to always be there.

The pair would talk for hours over their communicators, keeping roommates awake until the wee hours of the morning. They walked to their classes together, ate lunch in the Mess Hall together, did absolutely everything together. No matter where Hikaru went, Pavel followed him with a lopsided grin that was almost puppy-like.

Looking back, Hikaru wonders how he never saw it coming. He should have known; he thought he knew everything about his best friend. He was wrong.

It was mid-Winter during their second year at the Academy. They had been going for a run and taken a break in the park to admire the view of the Bridge as the sun rose behind it. Pavel was sitting just a little too close to Hikaru on the park bench, but he hadn't really noticed. "Karu," he murmured, and his voice was low. Hikaru looked at him oddly, noticing for the first time how close they were. He could have literally counted the number of individual eyelashes his friend had, they were so close.

Pavel's breath on his face made him freeze, internally panicking. When Pavel leaned forward to brush his lips against Hikaru's, Hikaru jumped up and away, startled.

"Pavel!" he said, his anger bubbling over. "What are you doing?!"

Pavel whimpered like a kicked puppy, looking up at him with big blue eyes. His lip quivered. "You mean you don't feel—"

"No!"

The look on Pavel's face at his denial of romantic feelings was awful. He had his look in his eyes that made Hikaru feel as though someone had kicked him in the gut: Betrayal. Pavel felt so betrayed by his best friend and first crush. The look on his face said everything, he didn't need to say how hurt he was.

The sixteen-year-old stood from the bench, his knees shaking slightly, and turned away. Hikaru's heart was pounding in his ears as he watched Pavel start to jog back toward the dorm building, eventually turning a corner and leaving his line of sight.


He missed Pavel so much his heart ached. He hadn't heard a word from Pavel in weeks; whether it was out of anger, or embarrassment, Pavel was avoiding him, and doing it well. He hadn't seen him anywhere, and he hadn't been answering Hikaru's calls.

Hikaru would have given the world to salvage the wreckage that used to be their unbreakable friendship. If he could only go back in time and change things, told Pavel the truth...

"I do feel it, Pav," he should have said. But Hikaru Sulu was a coward.