-Important Notice-

Okay so I got a lot of comments about formatting and i had no clue what was going on. So, I fixed chapters 4,5,8 and 10 where I finally understood wht was going on. I'm so sorry! The chapters are fixed and as an apology here's another chapter. Enjoy xxx

There's a long period of calm and Pavel can't help but wonder if something bad is coming his way. Graduation isn't as far away as he thought and he is on good terms with Sulu. He spends a lot of his free time being social rather than reading or studying as he did before. Scotty introduces him to some great people and he even gets invited out to dinner with some of the guys from the Delta Vega mission. McCoy forces him into a few more meetings about his mental health, about his physical health and about how things are going with Spock. Pavel has had a few conversations with the Vulcan since their last meeting and things seem a lot smoother between the two. He has some interesting theories regarding the engineering principles that Pavel and Scotty are working on.

After one of his classes Pavel heads over to Sulu's room. Scotty's busy with something and going back to an empty room doesn't have the same appeal as seeing his friend. Pavel knock on the door quietly and waits a little longer than he expected. Sulu opens it and looks flustered as soon as he sees Pavel. He can see Veesa in the kitchen and he looks at Sulu suspiciously.

"Veesa's here?"

"Um yeah. I would have told you earlier, you know, that I still see her but I didn't really get the right time and didn't want to give off the wrong idea."

"No, you're definitely not doing that." Pavel says coldly.

Veesa looks so happy in the background. She's cooking something and judging by the flour on Hikaru's shirt, Pavel figures he's helping her. He thought that her advance was unwanted by Hikaru, that he didn't intend for her to kiss him. Pavel can feel himself starting to get emotional.

"I just came to ask if I left my PADD charger here," Pavel lies quickly, waiting for Sulu to have a quick look and confirm what Pavel knows isn't there.

"I don't think you left it here. Have you checked your bag?"

"I think it's in the library. Anyways, I'll leave you to it."

Sulu tries to protest but Pavel has already started walking away. He can feel tears forming in his eyes and he's glad Scotty won't be back for another hour and a half.

Scotty knows something's up as soon as he walks in the door. He gets this lonely vibe from Pavel, who is studying at his desk.

"Hey," he greets.

"Hey," Pavel returns quietly. "How was your thing?"

Scotty can feel Pavel's insincerity. "What happened?"

"Am I that obvious?" Pavel asks quietly, leaning back in his chair and putting his pencil down. "I went over to see Hikaru but… Veesa was there… He's still seeing her and he didn't even tell me… I thought that…" Pavel winces a little. He feels so stupid and pitiful.

"Ah Pavel I'm sorry." Scotty says gently, pulling his own desk chair next to the sad Russian's. "You do like him don't you."

Pavel nods. He knows he does, there's no point in hiding it any more. "He doesn't like guys I guess, you remember that time when he hooked up with that other girl."

Scotty shrugs. "Perhaps lad, but you can't just go guessing these things."

Pavel starts avoiding Hikaru again, but what's worse is he barely notices. He spends all his time with Veesa anyway and it makes Pavel feel a little sicker every time he sees them together. They're so cuddly and irritating, he nearly flips a table just thinking about it. He knows that his frustration is about 90% jealousy but it doesn't stop him from obsessively hating on Veesa.

Scotty seems to think that trying to set Pavel up with other guys is a good idea and despite his protests Scotty still introduces him to one of the men in engineering. As soon as they're back home Pavel points out that just because they're both gay doesn't make them both compatible. Scotty agrees sheepishly. The guy was nice enough but certainly not his type. Pavel didn't even think he had a type. Whatever his type was, it was not the guy that Scotty introduced.

Thanks to Scotty's introduction a few rumours started spreading around (mainly engineering) that Pavel was gay. Pavel doesn't disagree with any of the rumours, and he feels that it's just people's curiosity rather than a mean sort of attack. Someone's probably told Sulu by now, and the Russian hopes to avoid any conversation about it. He knows it'll make things more awkward than they already are.