Pavel ignores Hikaru one too many times and it ends up backfiring against him. Sulu snaps at him for being immature and not facing his problems and it strikes a nerve. Sulu is right, the Russian hasn't been facing his problems, and he has been ignoring them and letting them control his emotions. Later than night Pavel goes back over to what is now Hikaru's dorm and knocks on the door sheepishly. Sulu seems quite surprised to see him there. He lets him in and closes the door.
"I need to apologise," Pavel says quietly. "You're right about me not facing my problems. I'm sorry for ignoring you."
"You shouldn't be. The whole Veesa thing shouldn't have happened, and you're not a kid."
"Did she really kiss you?"
"Yeah, but I should have pulled away… I was just kind of shocked I guess."
Pavel nods and takes a seat at the table. It was his seat, and it kinda still is. The room seems so foreign now that he isn't there.
"I hope you're not offended by me moving in with Scotty…"
Hikaru shakes his head. "I probably would have done the same thing. Maybe it's best if we spend some time away from one another…"
Pavel and Hikaru both realise that he's talking as if the two were a couple and things quickly get awkward.
"I just mean that like, I don't want to put any more stress on you and Scotty's a good friend for you to be with and yeah, I'm just making it worse aren't I?" Sulu smiles apologetically and Pavel laughs. Fuck Sulu loves his laugh. Pavel grins at the Asian and stands up.
"I have homework due tomorrow and I still need to write the conclusion. I better leave you to it. I'm sorry for just… I don't know, shaking everything up I guess…"
Sulu breathes a sigh of relief knowing Pavel doesn't hate him.
Pavel walks through the door and Sulu catches his hand pulling him back a step.
"Just know you're always welcome back here okay?"
Pavel smiles curtly and nods, his gaze lingering on Sulu's hand gripping his wrist. Sulu lets go awkwardly and waves a silent goodbye to Pavel. He can feel the hot blaze across his cheeks and swears at himself as soon as the door closes. Pavel touches his own cheeks as he walks back towards his room. His cheeks are warm and he feels like he's done something wrong. He's hoping that he's only blushing because it was a little awkward, not for any other reason.
Scotty picks up on Pavel's red cheeks and looks at him suspiciously.
"It's nothing," he says quickly.
Scotty grins at him and starts asking lots of questions but Pavel just ignores him.
"Did something happen between you two? Did you two kiss or?"
"No, no, no," he laughs, putting his hands up innocently. "I don't know why I'm blushing."
Scotty rolls his eyes and sits down on the lounge. "If you fancy him you can tell me you know lad."
"I don't," Pavel says quickly. Scotty shoots him a look. "Even if I did, it's not like he'd go after me anyway. He thinks I'm a kid, remember?"
Scotty shrugs. "I don't know much about Hikaru, but he seems like a pretty open-minded guy."
"I don't think he's gay though. I don't even know if I'm gay. Am I?"
Scotty starts laughing. "I don't know lad."
Pavel meets his weight goal for the physical, but only because McCoy pressed his foot on the scales a tiny bit. He's less than 300 grams under but the Russian needs to make sure his BMI is high enough to class him as average weight. Hikaru is there for his own physical and congratulates him on reaching his goal. Pavel feels so weird having people being proud of him for getting fatter, but he tries not to think about it as he watches Sulu on the other med bay bed with his shirt off. Sulu is a lot tanner and a lot more toned than Pavel. After spending most of his life inside, the Russian is as pale as a ghost.
McCoy scolds Sulu for constantly looking at Pavel shirtless. Sulu begins to argue that he's never seen Pavel shirtless but McCoy just glares him into silence. The doctor dismisses the two and gives Hikaru one last warning glare.
Sulu and Pavel go find lunch in the city as a kind of semi-celebration. It feels almost weird spending time together after last night. Things improve slowly throughout the night but there's still the same underlying awkwardness between the two. Pavel finishes a large curry with a lot less effort than he expected. He figures his stomach has stretched from eating so much all the time. Sulu seems pleased that he doesn't need to basically force the small Russian to finish his food. They even go for ice cream after they've finish and Pavel can't help wondering if this is what a date is like.