As Pavel was sitting up on the bed, his naked body only covered by the thin white sheets, reading, he heard a disturbance in the air. There was an angered huff and the slam of a door. Pavel jumped and looked at the doorway.
A slightly damp and cloth covered, frustrated, Leonard McCoy was standing there, an eyebrow arched in confusion. His wet hair was all over the place and his face was still red from embarrassment of being left in the shower by himself.
"Leo!" Pavel cried out happily, smiling at him. There was no response, instead, after closing the door, Bones walked over to the bed, giving a short glance over Pavel before nearly pouncing on the poor boy.
At first Pavel thought that Leonard was angry, but when Leo started to kiss Pavel, giving him small pecks all over, he rejected that theory. In fact, Bones was rather happy and excited.
"What…what ees zis for, Leo?" Pavel asked as he was attacked by Bones' damp, sticky lips. For a moment, Bones stopped and looked at Pavel with a huge smile on his face, eye gleaming with so much life, his face still pink.
"Pasha, I was wrong." He shook his head.
"Wrong about what?" Pavel cocked his head, confused.
"I said that you wouldn't be able to make it out there in the wild west…" Bones lowered himself down next to Pavel, grasping him in a hug. "I was wrong. You are independent, hell kid, you're pretty damn strong too." Bones laughed as he pulled away from the hug. Pavel's face went red with delight.
"Really?! You think so?" He asked.
"Pasha…I know so. Why did I ever doubt you?" He asked, smiling sweetly at Pavel. The young boy rolled his eyes.
"So all eet took vas for me to take control of ze situation?" He asked, sounding annoyed, but altogether happy.
"I knew you had it in you. I just wanted to see if I was right." Bones shrugged. "I was right about that." He smiled at Pavel, who grinned brightly back at him.
"Oh Leo…your are so complicated sometimes." Pavel shook his head and giggled like a small child. Bones loved it when Pavel laughed. He reached out and held Pavel closely in his arms, cradling him like a baby.
"I know…but I do it for the best." He uttered against Pavel's thick hair. It felt like the weight of his secret identity had shifted off him completely. No one had even considered his background except for the group, who had been surprisingly open to the idea that Bones was dangerous.
"Just zink. Een in few days, ve vill be traveling, away from this cursed town." Pavel sighed in Bones' arms, looking out the window at the town square.
"Yep, then we'll be on our own…doing whatever we want, exploring new lands…" Bones imagined the sights in his head, riding into the sunset with Pavel. He had many people say that their dream was to ride into the sunset with their significant other. Bones had thought that a long shot and un-romantic, but now Bones would be able to do it himself and he couldn't wait.
Pavel and Bones fell quiet, thinking about the prospects of many new adventures with the group and each other. Pavel was enthralled with the idea of going back to Russia while also visiting Europe. He vaguely remembered the sights of Europe as he had left the dock for America. He wondered if things had changed.
Bones thought about the idea of leaving the states and his identity being dropped and forgotten. He would become a new man, same name, but different attitude. Hopefully, when they returned to America, they would have forgotten all about Bones and his wrong doings.
As the hours passed, everyone had grouped together again, reporting how far they had gotten with their chores and if they had supplies then to drop it off in Jim's house, in the backyard so it wouldn't be found or discovered. Then the group traveled to the gun shop, which was locked down since the owner was sick and at home. Jim had the keys given to him by Pike before he left, so they had easy access.
They all filed in, the seven of them barely fitting in the small shack like building. All types of guns lined the walls. For a small town, they had a hell of a lot of weaponry. It ranged from shotguns to small pistols. Bullets were stacked in heaps behind the wooden counter.
"Alright, choose what you want. Get what you think might best suit you." Jim announced to everyone. Bones stayed back and watched everyone scramble for some sort of weapon. He had his Revolver and that's all he needed.
Pavel was peering over at the smaller guns, creasing his brow as he looked over all of them. Bones pushed himself off the wall and sauntered over to Pavel.
"Anything catch your eye?" Bones asked, putting an arm around Pavel's shoulders. Pavel looked up at Bones and then back at the guns.
"Not yet." He sighed. He had never been comfortable with a gun in his hands and when Bones had taught him how to shoot, he had been very nervous and stressed because he wanted to impress Leonard, but not hurt him.
"No rush." Bones shook his hands, trying not to pressure Pavel.
Pavel nodded and browsed around some more. Bones grinned to himself and turned around, looking down the barrel of a huge shotgun. He jumped, startled at first, but then saw the person behind the gun.
"Jesus Scotty. You almost gave me heart attack." Bones held his hand to his heart, emphasizing his words. Scotty put the shotgun down and smile, cocking his head.
"Thought I would. You don't know how long I've been waiting there for you to turn around." He joked. Both of them laughed and Scotty set the shotgun down on the counter for purchasing. "I'm guessing your keeping your revolver?" Scotty asked, leaning up against the counter, crossing his arms.
"I've lived with it for as long as I can remember. Yes, I'm keeping it." Bones nodded, patting his hip holster, where the gun lay.
"Suit yourself. You know it's going to have to wear out one day." Scotty told Bones. Bones nodded, knowing that fact. He knew that the gun was going to stop working eventually, and he didn't know what he was going to do after that.
"I know. I'll just find another gun." Bones shrugged.
"I feel that for you, it won't be that easy trying to find another gun." Scotty guessed.
"Yeah. To be honest, I've had that one in my life ever since I was a kid. I don't know…it'd be like trying to cope with the death of a friend." Bones told Scotty.
"Yeah?" Scotty nodded his head.
"Yeah. I guess, I'll just have to find something new, but let me tell you, I will never let go of this one even if it stops working. I'm going to have someone fix it if I can." Bones told him.
"Fixing guns is a lot of money…rare too." Scotty told Bones. He had only seen one in his entire lifetime and it was while getting off the ship to America.
"I know. I'll find the money somewhere." Bones shrugged. He was pretty sure he already had. The extra money in the floorboards of the Bank just might have been enough for him.
"Leo! Come! Look at zis!" Bones heard Pavel call out for him and quickly excused himself from Scotty. He strode over to where Pavel was. The kid was holding something in his hand. It was small…too small to be in a gun shop. It wasn't a bullet, nor was it a weapon. As Bones grew closer and stared at it, he saw that it appeared to be a ring of some sort.
"What is it?" Bones asked. Pavel turned it over in his hand, pulling it close up to his eye. It was made of metal and had scratches and notches where it had been possibly thrown or abused by the wearer. A largo hole was centered on the face of the ring around several other smaller holes.
"A ring…" Pavel whispered, in awe about the object in his hand.
"What is a ring doing in this goddamned gun shop?" Bones asked, about to reach out to Pavel's hand and grab it, but Pavel quickly clasped his fingers over the small object.
"No. I found eet. Eet ees mine." Pavel retorted like a small child. Bones rolled his eyes.
"It's not a weapon Pavel. It's just a ring." He told Pavel, crossing his arms.
"I do not care. I like eet. So I eem going to keep it." Pavel muttered, sticking the ring in his pockets. Bones didn't try and argue with Pavel. It would be of no use. If the kid wanted the ring, he could have it.
The group had found at least one gun that suited them when they exited the shop, locking it back up again. Uhura had found a small pistol with what looked like a white marble handle. It was easy to handle, but had a hell of a kick. Scotty had the ginormous shotgun that he had been pointing at Bones earlier. Sulu actually found a long, thin sword that he chose over the automatic weapons. He had been a fencer as a child and still remembered how to work the thin blade. Jim and Spock both had assortments of shotguns, pistols and revolvers. Pavel walked out with nothing. He wasn't much of a weapons person. Bones as well, walked out with zip. He relied heavily and only on his Revolver.
They all headed to Jim's place, storing there weapons in the basement, locked off from outsiders.
"What do we do now? I mean, we've got everythin' we need!" Scotty asked as they stepped outside of the house and into the bright, harsh sun.
"We wait." Jim said in a rather…odd and mysterious sense. The town was quite and there were a few people walking around, shying away from the group of seven as if they were the plague. It was quite odd occurrence, because usually the townspeople would welcoming Jim and his group of 2 into their homes or such.
Pavel looked around, feeling the hateful glances around him, the steely stares boring down into the darkest place of his soul. It was like his father was all around, watching him, observing him. He didn't like it. So he tugged lightly on Bones' jacket shoulder.
Bones looked over to see Pavel in a very distressed mood. His eyes were filled with worry and fear. His body shook.
"What?" Bones asked.
"Can…can we go to ze barn?" Pavel asked back. Bones looked around himself, seeing nothing but people that didn't want him here.
"Sure. Let's go." Bones nodded and then looked to the group. "Hey, I'm going to go take Pavel out for a minute. He just needs so fresh air." Bones informed them. Scotty cocked his head.
"But we are in fresh air?"
"Fresher air." Bones winked, without Pavel seeing. He hoped that they would understand the message he was trying to relay to them. No one understood, they just stared at Bones, confused. He rolled his eyes and took a step forward, leaning in to whisper. "He needs to get out of the town square. He doesn't feel good around these people."
"Oh. Alright, you do that Bones. We'll probably be in my house, mulling over plans." Jim nodded and informed Bones and the two of the them separated. Bones rejoined Pavel, who was nervously standing out the in the open, watching his back and all sides of him as if he was going to be attacked at any time.
"What's the matter?" Bones asked.
"I-I…I don't know. I just don't feel safe here. I want to get away." Pavel muttered under his breath. Bones wrapped a protective arm around Pavel's shoulder, guiding him away from the town center and instead, towards the field of hay bales. They weren't going to take the horses out because they had just been cleaned and the group was preserving them for the escape later on, so Bones and Pavel would just have to walk. Neither of them minded, though, Pavel wasn't the most athletic person one could ever meet.
"Do you zink eet might actually vork?" Pavel looked up at Bones, asking. In the back of his head was always a small doubt that his father would catch them in the act and it would be off to the gallows for both of them.
"Yes. I do." Bones nodded strongly. To be quite honest with himself, Bones wasn't really sure. But he didn't want to frighten Pavel into not believing that he would be saved. A kid like him needed that and Bones was going to give it to him, because when he was a younger child, Bones never got the gift of subtly from his parents. It was always something dire and when he asked, his parents never sugar coated it.
"I can't wait. I just want to go now!" Pavel exclaimed as they passed a lone hay bale.
"Well we have to wait and you know that. If we don't wait, then things could fall apart at the seams." Bones sighed. He wanted to leave as bad as Pavel did.
"Why can't we leave now?" Pavel asked, looking up at the only strong male figure in his life. Bones recognized this.
"Because. Even though this town maybe a hint of wretched, Jim still wants to make sure it's okay, so we can't leave until the Sheriff come back. And if we leave now, we run the risk of bumping into the Sheriff and getting our asses caught." Bones explained.
"And eef ve get caught…" He mumbled. "We get hung on ze noose."
"Yes." Bones nodded, watching the kid's expression. "Have you ever…seen anyone on the gallows before?"
"Da. A couple of times actually. They were charged with murder and robbery." Pavel nodded, staring at the ground as he kicked a small rock along the path. Bones shivered. It's exactly what he had been doing before stumbling upon Enterprise. It's exactly what he would have done if Pavel hadn't unknowingly changed his mind.
"Oh…"
"Yeah…I vas zere for ze whole. I had to stay because my father was in charge of it and didn't want me out his sight, so I had to watch a man be killed." Pavel sighed heavily.
"What was it like…for you?" Bones asked.
"I don't know. I remember him pleading for his life as he stood on ze platform, waiting to be dropped…he looked at me only vonce. His eyes…zey vere…sad and desperate. Not ze eyes of a killer…" Pavel still seemed to be wrestling with his emotions while he spoke to Bones. "Zen vithout varning, my father dropped ze platform and whoosh!" Pavel made the sound gesture, sweeping his hands down towards the ground. "He vas down. I could see his leg twitching slighty…but zen eet vas still."
"Pavel…that must be a horrible thing to see." Bones shuddered. He had seen executions, but only from afar. Whenever his traveling companions for the day, week, month, were captured, he always attended the execution as a sign of respect.
"Eet…vas different, but I vasn't scared…" As Pavel spoke, he seemed to become confused at his own words. "I mean…eet was…I don't know…" He shrugged.
"It's alright. Don't worry." Bones rubbed Pavel's back as they traveled along the invisible pathway to the barn. "I'm not going to say you won't see more in the future, but I can assure you that it won't ever happen to you." Bones promised.
"I doubt zat I vould ever be caught." Pavel looked up at Bones with a bright smile on his face.
"And why is that?" Bones asked.
"Because…I eem…I'm me. I could be stealthy eef I vanted to, or I could just throw ze opponent off by kissing zem." Pavel giggled and walked away, laughing all the way. Bones' smirked.
"Oh, no you won't!" He exclaimed, running after Pavel, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around so that Bones could fully embrace Pavel in a heartwarming hug, that soon turned into a tickle. Immediately, Pavel with writhing and wriggling in his grasp, laughing and smiling.
Bones had never really…tickled anyone before. He wasn't that close to anyone in his life to make that kind of physical contact. But he knew Pavel now and they were basically…together, so that made it alright for such physical contact without it being labeled odd, or weird.
Pavel giggled at first, feeling Bones' nimble fingers run over his stomach. His mother had tickled him when he was a child, but other than that, there was nothing. He grinned and tried to suppress his laughter, but found it too difficult. Bones' expert fingers were climbing all over, finding sweet spots that would make Pavel gasp for air.
"Leo—Leo!" Pavel cried out, tears nearly brimming from his eyes from laughing to hard. "P-please!" He let out a sharp laugh. Bones grinned and laughed to himself, enjoying this small moment. Someone had once told him it was the little things that counted. Bones would count this as a little thing he should remember.
"Do you want me to stop?" Bones asked, still tickling Pavel.
"Uh…da." He nodded.
"I'm sorry, I can't do that." Bones whispered into Pavel's ear, giving him the chills.
"Ahck! Leonard!" Pavel whined and wriggled in Bones' grasp. He let out another burst of laughter, grinning wildly. "Please!" He whimpered, thrusting his hands out and pushed Bones down onto the ground. Both of them stood still for just a moment before Pavel was upon Bones, his legs tangled with Bones', his hands wrapped in the thick mop of brown shaggy hair, and his lips pressed up against Bones' mouth. Bones' eyes widened as Pavel stuck to him like white on rice, but there was no way he was going to protest against it.
"I told you to stop…" Pavel muttered, laying his head down on Bones' chest.
"Yeah, now I kind of don't want to…" Bones grinned, snaking his hand right up to Pavel's neck, lightly tickling him. Pavel shrugged and a smile cracked on his face.
"Nyet! Nyet!" He protested, though he liked be tickled, it was just the lack of air he was getting in his lungs when he laughed. "Leo! I can't breathe!" He gasped as Bones ceased his tickling.
"Pasha! Damn, I'm sorry." He apologized, sitting up, looking over a very pink Pavel as he caught his breath.
"Hold on…one moment…" Pavel held out a hand, signaling for Bones to give him a moment's rest. And he did. A few deep breaths, a short glance towards Bones and he was better.
The two of them sat in the grass, just looking at each other. Not in a lovey dovey sort of way, but more as of an understanding of each other. Both of them had a sense of one another's backgrounds. They both came from torn families and spent the rest of their years either wandering through the states, or wandering through a town, wondering who they were.
Pavel crawled over to Bones and sat himself in his lap, arms draped over Bones' neck, looking at his eyes, bringing his hand up to gently caress his stubble and tuck back a small lock of brown hair that had fallen out of place on his head. Pavel let his thumb brush the side of Bones' cheek, gently rubbing it back and forth before leaning in and kissing Bones on the lips.
Their lips melded and Bones had never felt so at peace. Pavel had been gentle and quiet towards him, making the moment sweeter. He felt that even if no words were spoke between two people and they could still understand each other, then yes, they would be in love. Bones was finally in love.
Wrapping a large arm around Pavel's waist, Bones drew him in closer, tilting his head so he wouldn't bump Pavel's nose. "Jesus kid, you've made me a hopeless romantic." Bones muttered as Pavel drew away, leaning his forehead against Bones'.
"Zat vas ze plan." Pavel smiled sweetly, looking into Bones' eyes with care and compassion. "Eet vas ze plan from ze beginning."
"The beginning? Of what?" Bones grinned, barely grazing his nose against Pavel's as he smiled.
"From ze first day I met you of course! Vhat else?" Pavel laughed and sighed, leaning his head against Bones' shoulder. "You vere ze only strong male figure een my life…even from ze moment you came trotting through ze town on zat horse and I saw you through my vindow."
"Geez kid, I didn't know I meant that much to you…" Bones huffed, wrapping Pavel in his arms. "But I'm always here for you, no matter what."
"Zank you Leonard." Pavel sighed, breathing lightly on Bones' shoulder, watching the fabric on Bones' shirt flutter back and forth as he did. Then he closed his eyes and just listened to the beat of his heart.
"Of course…" Bones nodded even though Pavel wouldn't see him.
Carefully turning his head, he gave Pavel a gentle kiss on his smooth, freckled neck. Pavel shifted in his lap and murmured something in Russian with a small smile on his face. "Do you still want to go to the barn?" He asked.
"Nyet. I am fine here vith you." Pavel whispered in a tiresome voice.
"Alright." Bones held Pavel and rocked him back and forth, slowly letting the Russian fall into a small cat nap.
During the nap, Pavel muttered words in his sleep that were incoherent and just too quiet to decipher. But it was cute seeing Pavel utter words in his sleep and twist and turn in Bones' arms. It let him realize that even though the kid was seventeen, he was still very new and raw to America. He needed to be protected sometimes. Kissing a man to throw him off wouldn't work for Pavel. It would get him killed, but it wouldn't keep him safe.