"Chekov?" Sulu asked again.
"Hm?" he hummed, a slight smile on his distant face.
It was around 2200 hours. The roommates were on their respective beds. Sulu was sprawled out on his crisply straightened sheets, passing time with homework before going out with some friends, while Chekov was sitting cross-legged on his unmade covers and seemed to be staring at the wall.
He reached across the gap and poked the kid in his side. "Hey, Chekov."
"Да?" he startled out of his reverie. "What do you need?"
"What's thirty-two times fifteen?"
The question was received with a glower. "I am not a calculator. Go get your PADD."
"You're a grumpy calculator," Sulu muttered as he reached for his bag, earning himself a glare from Chekov before the boy resumed his study of the wall.
Glancing out the window in anticipation of his friends, he pulled his PADD from his bag.
"Four hundred eighty," said the kid after a pause.
"What?"
"Thirty-two times fifteen is four hundred eighty."
He squinted, propping himself up on an elbow. The kid was still just staring at the wall, but this time with a trace of a scowl. Sulu shook his head. Sometimes he just couldn't figure Chekov out.
A few minutes passed quietly, aside from the rustle of sheets as Sulu switched to a sitting position. The kid continued to concentrate his gaze on the wall, his dreamy expression alternating with a thoughtful frown.
"Either you're working a complicated math problem," Sulu broke the silence, "or you're mooning over a girl."
Chekov's head snapped up, eyes widening and mouth gaping for a second before sullenly muttering, "It's nothing."
Leaning back on his bed, Sulu smirked. "Uh-huh. So, who is she?"
"Why don't you just leave me alone?" he snapped.
"What? I'm taking an active interest in my roommate's life."
The kid gave him a dubious look before turning the opposite direction.
"Does she know you like her?"
"It's none of your business."
Apparently she didn't know. "I could give you some tips," he offered.
"Really?" Chekov fixed him with a half-hopeful, half-suspicious look.
"If you tell me who it is, yeah."
He sighed, as if disappointed. "I knew it. You only want to make fun of me."
"Hey, I need to know what kind of a girl it is!" he defended.
"I will tell you about her," he said, "but I will not tell you who."
Sulu rolled his eyes. "Fine. Go ahead."
The kid got that daydreamy smile again. "She is kind, with a bright smile that warms up the whole room. She is beautiful, and courageous, and fierce. She is very intelligent and doesn't treat me like I am inferior. I always look forward to seeing her because she makes me happy to be who I am, something I haven't felt at all since coming to the Academy."
Sulu felt a twinge of guilt at the last comment, but he shook it off. "How long have you known her?"
"A few weeks, I guess. But it is feeling like I knew her my whole life."
"And how much older is she?"
Chekov thought about it for a minute. "Maybe...four years?"
"It sounds to me like we've got to get you a strategy."
"A strategy?" he echoed.
"Yep," he nodded. "Now, let's see... What assets do we have to work with?" He gave the kid a calculating look, under which Chekov shifted uneasily.
Sulu was suddenly struck by the open vulnerability of the kid. He was nearly a foot shorter than him, with big, innocent eyes and a mop of brown curls just begging to be mussed. His uniform was alternately too big and too small: his wrists weren't covered by the long sleeves, but the rest of the shirt hung baggy on his thin, gangly frame. He looked more like he should be in sixth grade than at Starfleet Academy.
"What do you think?" the kid questioned impatiently.
"Well, you're much younger than her. That would normally be a difficulty, but I think I have a way it could work to your advantage."
"How?" Chekov asked eagerly.
Suppressing a grin, he said, "Puppy dog eyes."
The kid tilted his head slightly in confusion. "What is that? And how will it help me?"
Sliding off the bed, Sulu gestured to the boy. "C'mere, and I'll show you."
After a moment the roommates were standing side by side in front of the mirror.
"Alright," he continued, "widen your eyes."
Reluctantly Chekov did so.
"A little more. There you go. Now, think of something really sad."
"What?" the kid asked.
"Just do it."
"Um...okay."
The effect was immediate. Chekov was, quite suddenly, irresistibly cute.
"Perfect," Sulu smiled, admiring his handiwork.
The kid shot him a quizzical look. "What?"
"That expression," he said. "It'll win her over, I guarantee it."
"I don't know..." Chekov hesitated.
They looked up at a loud horn beep. Sulu leaned over and peered out the window. Riley was outside, waving from the passenger seat of a silver car. Dominguez was driving, and Leila Sherazi was in the backseat with some blonde guy he didn't recognize, probably her latest boyfriend.
"That's my ride." He quickly cleaned off his bed (no sense in leaving a mess for later) and, as an afterthought, snatched a jacket from his closet. Halfway out the door he turned around. "Seriously, try it. It'll work like a charm." Then the door shut behind him, and he was gone.
Chekov turned back to the mirror, widening his eyes again. These 'puppy eyes' might just prove useful.