Dr McCoy calls Pavel in for his physical and spends most of the time lecturing the Russian about his weight. Despite his effort to put on weight since the sleeping incident he's still significantly smaller than when he started at Starfleet. McCoy says if he doesn't gain another kilo and a half by the end of the week, he'll have to start on some more medication and after last time, Pavel is not keen.
Sulu takes Pavel out for burgers later that day and the Russian feels full before he has even finished half the burger. Pavel eats the whole thing slowly, feeling like he's going to explode as soon as he's done. It was a good burger but damn it was filling. Sulu tries to feed Pavel ramen for dinner but he can only finish a tiny bit. Sulu's ramen is good and the ramen itself is super fattening.
Pavel can smell bacon and eggs when he wakes up and it makes him feel a little ill. He still feels full from yesterday and isn't in the mood for a big breakfast. He rarely even eats breakfast as it is, and the thought of three huge meals a day for the next week is scaring him.
At the end of the week Pavel is just under his 1.5 kilo target and McCoy lets him off as long as he promises to keep eating. Sulu goes out with some friends that night and Pavel is thankful for not having to eat a huge dinner. He eats a few biscuits and goes to bed before Hikaru comes home to avoid any questioning.
Three mid-term exams down and Pavel is pretty confident he's done well in them. He still has two more but he has memorised every neatly printed word on his study cards and knows all the practise questions back to front. Study is the one things Pavel can do well and despite his constant forced eating and lesser ability to concentrate, he knows he can do well. The past few weeks have passed so much faster than he thought and the five year mission is looming in the near future.
Sulu is a great study partner and quizzes Pavel on the stimulus for the last two exams. Pavel's English is the only thing letting him down by the end of the night. He understands what he is talking about but his spelling still isn't the best. The Russian spends the next few days combing through a dictionary and trying to strengthen his vocabulary. Sulu admires his persistence as he tries to motivate himself with his own study. Veesa starts spending a little more time with Hikaru 'studying,' but it starts getting awkward quickly. Sulu is simultaneously trying not to be interested in Veesa or Pavel, but if anything he's getting more interested in both. There are a few occasions where it seems that Veesa is almost purposely disincluding Pavel. Sulu feel honestly sorry for him, he gets this subtle look of hurt in his eye and goes and does something else.
Veesa is sitting very close to Hikaru and as much as he is enjoying it, he can tell it's making Pavel feel uncomfortable. He goes into the kitchen to get a drink and Veesa looks at Sulu with a weird grin. Sulu tilts his head to the side in confusion and as soon as Pavel comes back into the room Veesa cups Sulu's face and pulls her lips to his.
Pavel sees red as soon as he see the two lip locked. He feels betrayed by Sulu and angry with Veesa's insensitivity. Pavel leaves the apartment and makes sure to not look back as he speed walks towards engineering. Sulu looks up abruptly and frowns at Veesa.
"You did that on purpose."
Veesa shakes her head. "I do like you. You're a nice guy. It's just getting weird with him around."
"Weird? He's my friend…"
Pavel is sitting in the corner with another stack of circuit boards as Scotty yells at a few ensigns for mucking around with a transporter pad. He's angry and sad and confused and he wants to go back to the apartment and beat the shit out of Hikaru. Scotty sits down after a while and listens carefully to everything that has happened. Scotty's roommate has just moved in with his girlfriend and he offers Pavel a place to stay for the night. Pavel accepts the offer and replicates himself a shirt and a toothbrush. He likes staying with Scotty. He hasn't shared a room with him since Delta Vega but the Scotsman is easy to get along with.
Scotty gets a few messages from Hikaru asking if he know where Pavel is but the Russian asks Scotty not to reply. Partially because he doesn't want Sulu's apologies and partially because he wants to make him suffer. Pavel starts worrying that his decision to ignore Hikaru is too impulsive. Should he be getting angry at Hikaru just for kissing a girl? Pavel shakes his head, it's more than that. Sulu knew he felt disincluded and that things were weird with Veesa. It was a long kiss too, Sulu could have easily pulled away. Maybe Pavel is just jealous? He doesn't know anymore, and after getting hurt by something so subtle, he doesn't really want to.