I should probably state here that I currently have no intention of writing Sulu/Chekov to be any form of slash - I'm keen on exploring their friendship, but nothing further. They're bros as far as I'm concerned.
Many thanks to those of you who have favourited/followed/reviewed so far :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, or Mitch Albom, from whose book I have drawn inspiration from.
Starfleet refuses to let him out of their sight for two weeks and a half. To be fair, Chekov doesn't really want to leave, either – he would rather just stay in this bubble, immerse himself in the problems of the new transporters, figure out why the hell they don't work in time to beam people back up on the ship.
In the end, they send a sympathetic nurse to his quarters to kindly inform him of his medical leave, currently unfit for duty, suggested temporary retirement until further notice. Chekov reads between the lines. They think he's mentally unstable and he'll crash the next ship he's on out of pain or something. He only nods when the nurse hands him a recommendation for a counselor and awkwardly pats him on the shoulder – he recognizes him from physics class back when he was a first year at the Academy, but he can't be bothered to say hi.
In fact, he can't be bothered to do anything, evidenced by him lying in bed all day and staring at the ceiling. Knocks at his door go unanswered. Twice the nurse manually overrides the door to tell him he has to leave the hospital room. Twice Chekov packs up before realizing he has nowhere to go. Twice Chekov curls up under the covers and wishes for it all to go away. The nurse finally gives up and stops coming. Chekov wishes life was that easy to solve. The vodka makes it a little easier to believe that it is.
Sulu shows up a few days after, bags under his eyes and skin pale from exhaustion. "Why are you still dressed for sleep?" he asks, noticing Chekov is still in his sweats and a loose T-shirt.
"Why are you dressed for work?" Chekov retorts before letting Sulu in. Sulu glances down at his neatly pressed yellow shirt and black slacks before following Chekov in.
"I have to go see the Enterprise-" He stops when he sees Chekov's shoulders stiffen. "Sorry."
"No, go on." Chekov pours himself another glass of vodka before offering the bottle to Sulu. "Why are you visiting the Enterprise? I thought it got blown up."
"I don't drink vodka, thanks," Sulu says in response to the bottle. "It did – but Scotty had the backup plans, so…" He trails off. "Starfleet decided to rebuild it."
"So you're going back to being a pilot?" Chekov asks, his tone carefully neutral. He makes sure to keep his back turned to Sulu so the pilot doesn't see his shaking hands.
"No, Chekov. I'm going back to be… captain." Sulu hesitates when he says the last word. They both think the same thing: nobody is worthy of that title anymore, nobody on this damn earth.
"Captain." Chekov lets the word slip off his tongue. "Well. Good for you."
"Come with me," Sulu tries.
"I can't." Chekov still won't look at him. "How could you – how could anyone – Starfleet fired me. They don't think I should work there anymore."
"I'm sorry, Chekov. I know how you feel. But we have to move on-"
"So that's your idea of moving on? You're going back to be Captain? How could you?" The last words are screamed and Chekov finally turns to face his friend, eyes alight with an anger Sulu never expected.
"How could I?" Sulu rises to his feet, too. In the last four years, Chekov has grown and filled out – he's now taller than Sulu, but the Asian holds his ground. "I lost my friends on that ship just like you did."
"Oh yeah?" Chekov challenges. "Then what is this? You think you can just step over their corpses and sit in the captain's chair? You don't have a right-"
"And you don't have a right to tell me anything," Sulu cuts in, his voice suddenly sharp and steely cold like his blade. "Jim left instructions for me to take over if he ever-" He swallows the last word. "I am going to finish what they started. I have a job to do. It's what I signed on to do." He tosses a small screen at Chekov, who barely catches it. "I came to see if you would help me do it, but clearly that's not going to happen. Have a good life, Pavel."
Chekov stares at the revolving holographic picture of the crew together one last time before he registers Sulu's footsteps leaving him. "Hikaru. Wait-"
But the door hisses closed behind Sulu, and Chekov thinks about his last words to his only friend left in the whole world. Suddenly, he feels like throwing up, and he barely makes it to the bathroom before he blacks out.
