FIC: Prom Night 1/2
Title: Prom Night
Rating: Teen (language, violence, adult themes)
Pairing: girl!Chekov/Sulu
Warnings: genderswitch, crack, always-a-girl!Chekov who may possibly be insane
Notes: because I had a terrible day, needed to cheer myself up with a little something, and there was this prompt about proms and floofy dresses. It's probably not what OP intended but I didn't think I could write an entire fic just about taffeta so I wrote about my crazy girl!Chekov who lives in Crackverse. There's major reference to something to do with John Cho, should be pretty easy to figure out but cookies to whoever does.
Hikaru Sulu shook his hand and made a face when the floss didn’t come loose - what the fuck! When did dental floss become sticky!! Fuming, he ran his hand roughly under the water, flushing the annoying piece of string. He grabbed the mouthwash and took a hard swig - and spat it out all over the bathroom mirror when he choked.
There was a bang on the door. ‘Sulu! You dead in there yet?’
‘Shut up!’ He yelled for the third time as he ran his hands through his hair for the seventh time, staring hard at that stray strand that just insisted on popping over the top of his hair like a freaking halo.
‘We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up! Get out of the damn bathroom!’
But he had to look right. Tonight was important - it had to be right or otherwise he was screwed. He gave his own reflection in the mirror a hard glare and pointed at himself, ‘Don’t fuck this up.’ With that, he unlocked the bathroom and hurried out.
Jim Kirk yawned and got up from the bed, ‘Finally! Sulu, no girl deserves this much terror on a first date -‘ Hikaru barely caught the box the man suddenly pitched at him, ‘- you are whipped, my man, whipped - and what the heck is that? Anyway, do you even know if she's human?? She could be Andorian for all you know.’
He glared out of the corner of his eyes, nostrils flaring. Kirk didn’t understand. This was Captain Pike - CAPTAIN PIKE - asking him to do this, and it meant a lot to him, to be trusted with something like this. ‘Shut up! It’s an old prom tradition! You’re supposed to give it to your date on prom night and-’ His jacket was thrust into his chest.
‘Shut up and put this on,’ Kirk growled, rolling his eyes. ‘You’re going to be late.’
====
Polina Chekova stood on the steps of the Mayweather dormitory and stared enviously as another couple walked past, talking rapidly with smiles on their faces. The girl wore a dark blue slinky dress and her dark brown hair down her bare back - she gently bit her lower lip and glanced down at her own outfit, blushing. Her left foot threatened to start tapping. Everyone, everyone, was leaving already and she didn’t even know who her date was except that she had one. And he was late.
Polina chanced a glance at Captain Pike who watched the proceedings with a casual smile on his face, the same one he wore when Security-track cadets beat each other bloody on the sparring mat. Slowly, she edged a little further towards the handrails and away from him. It was lovely that the Academy was always taking such good care of her, but sometimes, it was too much! As one of her “guardians”, Captain Pike had even picked her date. It made her want to scream - as revenge, she hacked the officer’s mess replicators and had all of the senior staff eating fruit loops, haggis, Tellarite mustard and plomeek. Polina rubbed her nose and grinned secretly to herself. The smell from the mustard was going to stink for weeks!
Suddenly a young man in a tuxedo jogged up the stairs and saluted the Captain, breathless. ‘Sorry for the tardiness, sir.’
Captain Pike nodded and gave the stranger a warm smile, ‘Stand down, Cadet, I understand - it’s prom night.’
The unknown cadet nodded and took a deep breath, glancing at her. Polina averted her eyes quickly. He was an American. She felt her breath quicken - she had honestly thought that Captain Pike would pick another transfer student from the Nizhny Novgorod campus, another Russian. The man waved for her to come over.
‘Polina, I want you to meet Cadet Sulu. He’s been nice enough to escort you to the Prom this evening. ‘
She felt a blush start to crawl up her neckline. She had the mental capacity of someone twice her age, she was one of the highest ranking students in Advanced Theoretical Physics and she NEEDED to have a babysitter for a stupid dance!
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Cadet Sulu said, smiling nervously. ‘And ah, oh hey, um - wait, wait -‘
She blinked as the cadet withdrew a clear plastic box from his back pocket and thrust it at her. It was a mini flower bouquet. Polina gave him a wide-eyed look, not sure what this was meant to be. ‘For me?’ She said weakly.
The only stuff people ever gave her on campus were donuts, coffee, advice about putting on some weight and miniature bottles of vodka. She’d never gotten flowers before, except from papa and Uncle Yuri. It was… she glanced up and felt a smile creep over her lips.
He glanced at the Captain nervously before smiling back, ‘It’s a corsage.’
She took the box reverently, not sure what to do with it but - ‘Thank you.’ She whispered, feeling her smile widen. They were real fresh-cut flowers.
‘It’s a - thing.’ The cadet cleared his throat, ‘Um, it’s a really old tradition, goes on your wrist.’
‘Open the box, Polina.’ She glanced at the Captain, surprised. He gave her a slightly amused nod to the box. ‘Open the box.’
Polina opened the box and cautiously took out the miniature flower arrangement. It smelt so sweet. She bit her lower lip and glanced up at Cadet Sulu - okay maybe not a babysitter. The cadet reached out tentatively and carefully picked up the mini bouquet.
‘May I?’ He asked, holding out a hand.
She lifted up her left hand. The ribbon went around her wrist neatly and with tied with a double bow knot. Polina held it up in the night lighting and beamed. It was beautiful. ‘Thank you!’ She said and quickly kissed him on both cheeks.
He took a step back and gave her a startled look. Oh yes, it was Academy, and he was American - right, no kissing. She glanced at Captain Pike, who smiled and looked in another direction. Polina grinned - out of all her “guardians” he was always her favorite, and he was the only one she had not done a magical disappearing act on. Yet.
‘Well, I should probably go.’ He said, descending the stairs smoothly, ‘Enjoy your evening, cadets.’ Captain turned at the bottom of the stairs and smiled at her, ‘Polina, contact me if you need anything and I expect you back by 1AM at the latest, do you understand, young lady?’
Polina saluted smartly and couldn’t help her grin. Staying out after midnight? Awesome!!
Captain Pike gave her a bemused look, ‘I’ll be onsite at my office quarters until 2000 hours.’
Polina nodded and waved brightly as he left. ‘Goodnight, Captain!’
No way was she going to call him. No way. They’d never let her out again - they were worse than mama on the last day of vacation! Smiling at the satisfying sight of Captain Pike’s back, she turned to the cadet and thrust out her hand.
‘Polina Chekova!’
Cadet Sulu smiled tentatively but shook her hand, ‘Hikaru Sulu.’
‘May I call you Hikaru?’ She asked, already hitching up her dress and walking down the stairs. Polina felt a flutter of excitement - OH she couldn’t wait to get there! They never did anything like this at Nizhny Novgorod - no dances, no parties, no proms. She felt like she was in a twentieth century movie!
‘Um, sure.’ He laughed nervously.
‘You may call me Polina.’ She said, beaming because he was rather okay, for a babysitter/date. The worst one had been that doctor cadet - what’s his name? Mik-khoy or something. He had treated her like she was five years old, ordered her food for her (that was just CREEPY), walked her everywhere and insisted on standing at her shoulder and staring down anyone who spoke to her at the Astrophysics symposium after-conference suppers. And when she’d pretended to have a bad bladder to avoid him, the bastard gave her a hypospray without her permission to help! Just the thought of him made her mad.
Cadet Hikaru Sulu continued to look at her, waiting. He was younger than most of her babysitters/escorts, and he seemed friendly, far more approachable than she expected. He was attractive too - he reminded her of her second cousin Evgney, who was more Asian than Slavic, and she’d had a crush on him when she was five. The only thing that would make this night better was a drink and - oh yes, before she forgot. ‘Do you drink vodka?’
He gave her a wide-eyed look, ‘Um, sure, yeah, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea-‘
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and lifted up her dress.
===
Hikaru Sulu swallowed down his next words when his jailbait date hitched up her pink taffeta dress and lifted three mini bottles of - he blinked - vodka from a jury-rigged garter strap around her very nice, very firm upper left thigh. The skirt was dropped unceremoniously in a heap and a bottle tossed at him - the only thing that saved it was Starfleet training and the fact adrenalin had been bumping nonstop in his blood stream since Kirk uttered “You are so fucking late, man! Pike is gonna kick your ass!”
He was pretty certain that she wasn’t old enough to drink much less be showing off bits of her thigh to - well anyone except medical professionals! Hikaru held the bottle in his hands and stared as she unscrewed the caps of the two she held, saluted him with a big happy smile and threw them back. Her throat flexed as she swallowed and Hikaru felt his stomach drop to his feet, and a funny feeling overcome his hands. He took a deep breath: that neck - long, pale, supple, smooth, soft, with that little mole there on the side. Very nice.
‘Whoo!’ She huffed, and laughed, screwing the tops back on and neatly chunking them into the nearby disposal. Polina Chekova gave him a sweet smile, looking more like she’d just finished an entire bottle of soda on her own than two mini bottles of vodka.
‘For courage.’ She murmured, blushing.
Oh no, no… just no. Hikaru felt something inside of him leap at that high coloring. Polina Chekova was like marshmallows and strawberry milkshakes and French vanilla ice cream in that strapless fairy floss pink princess dress. It would probably look bad on someone else but on her it was just - she threw her arms up and laughed, twirling like she’d won a soccer game. God, she was fucking… adorable.
Oh GOD no! He just thought she was adorable after she threw back vodka like it was health drink. Still, she was Russian, she probably drank vodka for stomach complaints, but he just let someone who he was pretty certain was underneath the legal human drinking age drink two mini-bar bottles of vodka in front of him. Hikaru Sulu closed his eyes - Captain was going to fucking kill him.
===
Polina hurried along the Promenade and felt a twitter of excitement as the crowd thickened. There were more and more people now, dressed up in suits and tuxedos and some of the cadets with posts had even shown up in their dress uniform. Her eyes roamed the dresses - so many and so many of them were so pretty. Except for the Andorian girl - her outfit was probably very pretty and formal on her planet but it was so… military, and… so… leather. The Andorian cadet’s date waved at her brightly and confused, she gave a little wave back.
‘Sulu!’ The cadet yelled.
Ah, not for her - she fought down a flush at her mistake and glanced to her side. Cadet Hikaru smiled nervously at the blond man in the distance and lightly touched her elbow, steering her towards their destination, the main Promenade doors. The man cried out Cadet Hikaru’s name again and she turned to look at him. The blond cadet winked at her. She muffled a giggle. She wished people would stop doing that; it was some kind of strange friendship/mating ritual, one she just didn’t get it - they always looked so ridiculous.
‘Who is that?’
‘Nobody - just someone I know from a class.’ Cadet Hikaru said in a hurry.
Not just somebody, she thought with a wide-eyed smile, looking between her flustered babysitter and the cadet who was still grinning at her. Hikaru took a deep breath and offered his elbow, his smile suspiciously strained. Polina took the offered arm and felt his other hand come up to squeeze her hand, pressing it tight into the crook of his arm. She squirmed; he was rather strong for a skinny guy. So that’s why Captain picked him; it seemed that Cadet Hikaru’s physical condition was good enough to chase her in case she tried to run off.
Polina sighed with long suffering. She only did that ONCE - to an escort anyway, because she didn’t want them to get into trouble, even if she did honestly hate them at times. This fitness requirement was definitely Commander Spock’s suggestion - he was always the evilest out of all of her stupid guardians.
There was a loud wolf whistle. She turned. The blond cadet was waving both his arms.
===
‘Sulu, man, how’s it hanging?’ Kirk’s eyes flicked to Polina, ‘That’s a big dress for a small lady.’
He growled low in his throat. Kirk was a good guy, he knew that, but sometimes he could be such a sleaze. Hikaru hopped that Polina would pick up on it. Considering she was one of the special under-age cadets that the Academy took in and went to the trouble of assigning guardians and a caretaker so she could live off campus like a normal person, she most likely would. He hoped.
Kirk stepped forwards, and completely ignoring his date - the Andorian chick who he actually couldn’t bring himself to talk to despite the fact they were in the same tutorial (his eyes just couldn’t stop following her ANTENNAS - they were like, moving, all the freaking time - Kirk calling them hot and giving way too much detail on wanting to lick them and rub them in weird places just made them more freaky to him) - took Polina’s hand in a gallant swipe and kissed it. OH GROSS. One just didn’t know where Kirk’s mouth has been!
Apparently Polina had the same idea because she promptly whipped her hand away. ‘NO, DON’T!’ She cried in alarm.
Suddenly, Kirk got a strange expression on his face and keeled over on the grass.
What. The. Fuck.
The Andorian chick’s antennas flattened like an angry cat’s. She tilted her head and stared down the unconscious blond with bemused expression on her face. Hikaru stepped past Polina and stood over his friend.
Twisting her hands together, Polina shrugged with a sheepish smile. ‘I try to warn him...’
Warn him of what?
===
‘Wait you have anti-social spray on your hands??’ Cadet Hikaru’s eyes were wide as he hissed. ‘More importantly, why do you put anti-social spray on your hands?’
Polina glared back at him, ‘It’s very popular on Vulcan, and Commander Spock insisted - was direct order, I cannot ignore direct order.’
‘And it causes fainting when someone tries to kiss you on the hand?’ The cadet’s voice took on a new note, his expression aghast. She stood upright, a little pissed off now. It wasn’t like it was her idea! Who booby-trapped their hands so someone kissing them induced narcolepsy? Not her! She wasn’t crazy! She was - OH SHIT! Polina covered her eyes - the Commander sprayed her entire arms with it this time.
Stupid crazy Vulcan Commander! She’d never complained before because no one kissed her hands; no one kissed her at all. Trust him to ruin the one evening she’d been looking forwards to for the entire term when he was a thirty million kilometers away on shore leave. When he came back, his room was going to be an icy hell and the only thing his personal replicator will make will be meatballs - her fingers twitched, itching for a computer terminal.
‘It’s very popular on Vulcan!’ She snapped, ‘And yes - it makes sleep but it requires mouth contact to do that!’
And one spray lasted on average for two weeks. TWO WEEKS. Argh.
‘Vulcans,’ The Andorian girl sneered, giving her a dark look. ‘I never liked them.’ With that, she turned and headed towards the main doors of the Promenade auditorium, her antennas jiggling about suspiciously like they were laughing. Polina narrowed her eyes.
Cadet Hikaru made strange noise and ran both hands through his hair, staring down at his friend. The unconscious cadet was being tended by two girls from Medical.
‘He’ll be fine.’ She smiled, reaching out to pat Hikaru on the arm. ‘Is completely harmless, finishes in five minutes.’ Exactly five minutes - Vulcans invented it after all.
He flinched and took a step back away from her. Oh of course. She put her hand down and sighed, giving him a sad look. Everything had started out so well: he was cute, he was nice, he bought her a mini bouquet and he’d let her have a nip of vodka without calling the police, but now… she looked away and sniffed. If he ruined this evening, she would make sure that every damn building in the whole of the Academy stopped recognizing his entry codes, and that his shower only had cold water for the entire stinking month.
And right on time, the blond cadet groaned, eyes opening up and fluttering at them. ‘Hey guys.’
Cadet Hikaru heaved a sigh of relief and glanced at her, giving her a small smile. She beamed back. Crouching down, she grabbed the fallen cadet by the front of his rumpled tuxedo and dragged him onto his feet. She had a prom to get to - and he needed to get up so her date would stop being afraid of her and escort her in!
‘Polina Chekova!’ She said brightly, and when he gave her a dazed look, slapped him square across the face. Commander Spock said that the vigorous motion would get the human adrenal system to kick in and aid in a quick recovery. ‘Look sharp, Cadet Blue-Eyes! The prom is on and your date went without you!’
Behind her, Cadet Hikaru made a strange noise. She glanced back. The cadet dropped his arm out of the air and quickly crossed, looking oddly pained. ‘Um, Polina, just, just - don’t, okay, just - just leave him to the professionals, please?’
Polina sighed and let go of the cadet’s friend, stepping back. The blond gave her a wide-eyed sloppy smile as the two medics led him away before turning to the closest girl holding onto him, a blond girl with short hair who said she was a nurse and knew the cadet.
‘Christine? Is that your lovely face I’m seeing? My favorite nurse…’
‘Come on,’ Cadet Hikaru said, already turning away, ‘Let’s just - let’s just get to the prom, okay?’
She beamed happily and took a deep breath. ‘Okay!’
Hitching up her fluffy skirts, Polina hurried after him.
====
Hikaru Sulu fiddled with the edge of his soiled napkin and wondered what he was doing here exactly. Was he supposed to make sure that no one put the big bad moves on Polina Chekova? (From the shape and consistency of the muscle structure in what little of her legs that he’d seen, she could take out the trash herself) Was he supposed to keep her company, make sure she didn’t feel like a social pariah? From her confident greeting, the way she’d charmed and hustled her way through the crowd to get to the bar, and then manipulated the Sulamid barkeep to give her what she wanted, she didn’t need to be made to feel comfortable - she needed a psychiatric evaluation.
But he supposed…
She sat at the table, quietly working through her third bowl of strawberries and cream ice cream, eyes fixated on the dance floor. From the way she was glancing about the place and the uncertain hunch of her shoulders - Hikaru felt his heart go out to her. Poor thing, he sighed under his breath, being young and brilliant wasn’t a walk in the park, he knew. He wasn’t brilliant enough to be one year from graduation at her age (what was she? Seventeen? Eighteen?) but he’d been smart enough to feel the sting of awkwardness that came with knowing too much, seeing the world from a different perspective, being singled out. Polina Chekova wanted to dance - that was pretty much obvious. The girl had been practically dying to go to this stupid Prom. And to be stuck with him - someone who didn’t even know her, didn’t ask her out to this dance, was just assigned to her like a fucking guard dog… well, if he was in her shoes, it wouldn’t have gone down well but she didn’t even act like she resented him, not even a little.
Pushing aside his apprehensions, Hikaru stood and rounded the table to kneel next to her chair. He resisted the urge to back away from all that taffeta. She turned to him with a surprised look.
‘Cadet Hikaru,’ She said brightly, sucking on a spoonful of ice cream, ‘What up?’
He nodded to the floor, ‘Wanna dance?’
The smile was bright enough to light up Archer Stadium.
next
Rating: Teen (language, violence, adult themes)
Pairing: girl!Chekov/Sulu
Warnings: genderswitch, crack, always-a-girl!Chekov who may possibly be insane
Notes: because I had a terrible day, needed to cheer myself up with a little something, and there was this prompt about proms and floofy dresses. It's probably not what OP intended but I didn't think I could write an entire fic just about taffeta so I wrote about my crazy girl!Chekov who lives in Crackverse. There's major reference to something to do with John Cho, should be pretty easy to figure out but cookies to whoever does.
Hikaru Sulu shook his hand and made a face when the floss didn’t come loose - what the fuck! When did dental floss become sticky!! Fuming, he ran his hand roughly under the water, flushing the annoying piece of string. He grabbed the mouthwash and took a hard swig - and spat it out all over the bathroom mirror when he choked.
There was a bang on the door. ‘Sulu! You dead in there yet?’
‘Shut up!’ He yelled for the third time as he ran his hands through his hair for the seventh time, staring hard at that stray strand that just insisted on popping over the top of his hair like a freaking halo.
‘We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up! Get out of the damn bathroom!’
But he had to look right. Tonight was important - it had to be right or otherwise he was screwed. He gave his own reflection in the mirror a hard glare and pointed at himself, ‘Don’t fuck this up.’ With that, he unlocked the bathroom and hurried out.
Jim Kirk yawned and got up from the bed, ‘Finally! Sulu, no girl deserves this much terror on a first date -‘ Hikaru barely caught the box the man suddenly pitched at him, ‘- you are whipped, my man, whipped - and what the heck is that? Anyway, do you even know if she's human?? She could be Andorian for all you know.’
He glared out of the corner of his eyes, nostrils flaring. Kirk didn’t understand. This was Captain Pike - CAPTAIN PIKE - asking him to do this, and it meant a lot to him, to be trusted with something like this. ‘Shut up! It’s an old prom tradition! You’re supposed to give it to your date on prom night and-’ His jacket was thrust into his chest.
‘Shut up and put this on,’ Kirk growled, rolling his eyes. ‘You’re going to be late.’
====
Polina Chekova stood on the steps of the Mayweather dormitory and stared enviously as another couple walked past, talking rapidly with smiles on their faces. The girl wore a dark blue slinky dress and her dark brown hair down her bare back - she gently bit her lower lip and glanced down at her own outfit, blushing. Her left foot threatened to start tapping. Everyone, everyone, was leaving already and she didn’t even know who her date was except that she had one. And he was late.
Polina chanced a glance at Captain Pike who watched the proceedings with a casual smile on his face, the same one he wore when Security-track cadets beat each other bloody on the sparring mat. Slowly, she edged a little further towards the handrails and away from him. It was lovely that the Academy was always taking such good care of her, but sometimes, it was too much! As one of her “guardians”, Captain Pike had even picked her date. It made her want to scream - as revenge, she hacked the officer’s mess replicators and had all of the senior staff eating fruit loops, haggis, Tellarite mustard and plomeek. Polina rubbed her nose and grinned secretly to herself. The smell from the mustard was going to stink for weeks!
Suddenly a young man in a tuxedo jogged up the stairs and saluted the Captain, breathless. ‘Sorry for the tardiness, sir.’
Captain Pike nodded and gave the stranger a warm smile, ‘Stand down, Cadet, I understand - it’s prom night.’
The unknown cadet nodded and took a deep breath, glancing at her. Polina averted her eyes quickly. He was an American. She felt her breath quicken - she had honestly thought that Captain Pike would pick another transfer student from the Nizhny Novgorod campus, another Russian. The man waved for her to come over.
‘Polina, I want you to meet Cadet Sulu. He’s been nice enough to escort you to the Prom this evening. ‘
She felt a blush start to crawl up her neckline. She had the mental capacity of someone twice her age, she was one of the highest ranking students in Advanced Theoretical Physics and she NEEDED to have a babysitter for a stupid dance!
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Cadet Sulu said, smiling nervously. ‘And ah, oh hey, um - wait, wait -‘
She blinked as the cadet withdrew a clear plastic box from his back pocket and thrust it at her. It was a mini flower bouquet. Polina gave him a wide-eyed look, not sure what this was meant to be. ‘For me?’ She said weakly.
The only stuff people ever gave her on campus were donuts, coffee, advice about putting on some weight and miniature bottles of vodka. She’d never gotten flowers before, except from papa and Uncle Yuri. It was… she glanced up and felt a smile creep over her lips.
He glanced at the Captain nervously before smiling back, ‘It’s a corsage.’
She took the box reverently, not sure what to do with it but - ‘Thank you.’ She whispered, feeling her smile widen. They were real fresh-cut flowers.
‘It’s a - thing.’ The cadet cleared his throat, ‘Um, it’s a really old tradition, goes on your wrist.’
‘Open the box, Polina.’ She glanced at the Captain, surprised. He gave her a slightly amused nod to the box. ‘Open the box.’
Polina opened the box and cautiously took out the miniature flower arrangement. It smelt so sweet. She bit her lower lip and glanced up at Cadet Sulu - okay maybe not a babysitter. The cadet reached out tentatively and carefully picked up the mini bouquet.
‘May I?’ He asked, holding out a hand.
She lifted up her left hand. The ribbon went around her wrist neatly and with tied with a double bow knot. Polina held it up in the night lighting and beamed. It was beautiful. ‘Thank you!’ She said and quickly kissed him on both cheeks.
He took a step back and gave her a startled look. Oh yes, it was Academy, and he was American - right, no kissing. She glanced at Captain Pike, who smiled and looked in another direction. Polina grinned - out of all her “guardians” he was always her favorite, and he was the only one she had not done a magical disappearing act on. Yet.
‘Well, I should probably go.’ He said, descending the stairs smoothly, ‘Enjoy your evening, cadets.’ Captain turned at the bottom of the stairs and smiled at her, ‘Polina, contact me if you need anything and I expect you back by 1AM at the latest, do you understand, young lady?’
Polina saluted smartly and couldn’t help her grin. Staying out after midnight? Awesome!!
Captain Pike gave her a bemused look, ‘I’ll be onsite at my office quarters until 2000 hours.’
Polina nodded and waved brightly as he left. ‘Goodnight, Captain!’
No way was she going to call him. No way. They’d never let her out again - they were worse than mama on the last day of vacation! Smiling at the satisfying sight of Captain Pike’s back, she turned to the cadet and thrust out her hand.
‘Polina Chekova!’
Cadet Sulu smiled tentatively but shook her hand, ‘Hikaru Sulu.’
‘May I call you Hikaru?’ She asked, already hitching up her dress and walking down the stairs. Polina felt a flutter of excitement - OH she couldn’t wait to get there! They never did anything like this at Nizhny Novgorod - no dances, no parties, no proms. She felt like she was in a twentieth century movie!
‘Um, sure.’ He laughed nervously.
‘You may call me Polina.’ She said, beaming because he was rather okay, for a babysitter/date. The worst one had been that doctor cadet - what’s his name? Mik-khoy or something. He had treated her like she was five years old, ordered her food for her (that was just CREEPY), walked her everywhere and insisted on standing at her shoulder and staring down anyone who spoke to her at the Astrophysics symposium after-conference suppers. And when she’d pretended to have a bad bladder to avoid him, the bastard gave her a hypospray without her permission to help! Just the thought of him made her mad.
Cadet Hikaru Sulu continued to look at her, waiting. He was younger than most of her babysitters/escorts, and he seemed friendly, far more approachable than she expected. He was attractive too - he reminded her of her second cousin Evgney, who was more Asian than Slavic, and she’d had a crush on him when she was five. The only thing that would make this night better was a drink and - oh yes, before she forgot. ‘Do you drink vodka?’
He gave her a wide-eyed look, ‘Um, sure, yeah, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea-‘
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and lifted up her dress.
===
Hikaru Sulu swallowed down his next words when his jailbait date hitched up her pink taffeta dress and lifted three mini bottles of - he blinked - vodka from a jury-rigged garter strap around her very nice, very firm upper left thigh. The skirt was dropped unceremoniously in a heap and a bottle tossed at him - the only thing that saved it was Starfleet training and the fact adrenalin had been bumping nonstop in his blood stream since Kirk uttered “You are so fucking late, man! Pike is gonna kick your ass!”
He was pretty certain that she wasn’t old enough to drink much less be showing off bits of her thigh to - well anyone except medical professionals! Hikaru held the bottle in his hands and stared as she unscrewed the caps of the two she held, saluted him with a big happy smile and threw them back. Her throat flexed as she swallowed and Hikaru felt his stomach drop to his feet, and a funny feeling overcome his hands. He took a deep breath: that neck - long, pale, supple, smooth, soft, with that little mole there on the side. Very nice.
‘Whoo!’ She huffed, and laughed, screwing the tops back on and neatly chunking them into the nearby disposal. Polina Chekova gave him a sweet smile, looking more like she’d just finished an entire bottle of soda on her own than two mini bottles of vodka.
‘For courage.’ She murmured, blushing.
Oh no, no… just no. Hikaru felt something inside of him leap at that high coloring. Polina Chekova was like marshmallows and strawberry milkshakes and French vanilla ice cream in that strapless fairy floss pink princess dress. It would probably look bad on someone else but on her it was just - she threw her arms up and laughed, twirling like she’d won a soccer game. God, she was fucking… adorable.
Oh GOD no! He just thought she was adorable after she threw back vodka like it was health drink. Still, she was Russian, she probably drank vodka for stomach complaints, but he just let someone who he was pretty certain was underneath the legal human drinking age drink two mini-bar bottles of vodka in front of him. Hikaru Sulu closed his eyes - Captain was going to fucking kill him.
===
Polina hurried along the Promenade and felt a twitter of excitement as the crowd thickened. There were more and more people now, dressed up in suits and tuxedos and some of the cadets with posts had even shown up in their dress uniform. Her eyes roamed the dresses - so many and so many of them were so pretty. Except for the Andorian girl - her outfit was probably very pretty and formal on her planet but it was so… military, and… so… leather. The Andorian cadet’s date waved at her brightly and confused, she gave a little wave back.
‘Sulu!’ The cadet yelled.
Ah, not for her - she fought down a flush at her mistake and glanced to her side. Cadet Hikaru smiled nervously at the blond man in the distance and lightly touched her elbow, steering her towards their destination, the main Promenade doors. The man cried out Cadet Hikaru’s name again and she turned to look at him. The blond cadet winked at her. She muffled a giggle. She wished people would stop doing that; it was some kind of strange friendship/mating ritual, one she just didn’t get it - they always looked so ridiculous.
‘Who is that?’
‘Nobody - just someone I know from a class.’ Cadet Hikaru said in a hurry.
Not just somebody, she thought with a wide-eyed smile, looking between her flustered babysitter and the cadet who was still grinning at her. Hikaru took a deep breath and offered his elbow, his smile suspiciously strained. Polina took the offered arm and felt his other hand come up to squeeze her hand, pressing it tight into the crook of his arm. She squirmed; he was rather strong for a skinny guy. So that’s why Captain picked him; it seemed that Cadet Hikaru’s physical condition was good enough to chase her in case she tried to run off.
Polina sighed with long suffering. She only did that ONCE - to an escort anyway, because she didn’t want them to get into trouble, even if she did honestly hate them at times. This fitness requirement was definitely Commander Spock’s suggestion - he was always the evilest out of all of her stupid guardians.
There was a loud wolf whistle. She turned. The blond cadet was waving both his arms.
===
‘Sulu, man, how’s it hanging?’ Kirk’s eyes flicked to Polina, ‘That’s a big dress for a small lady.’
He growled low in his throat. Kirk was a good guy, he knew that, but sometimes he could be such a sleaze. Hikaru hopped that Polina would pick up on it. Considering she was one of the special under-age cadets that the Academy took in and went to the trouble of assigning guardians and a caretaker so she could live off campus like a normal person, she most likely would. He hoped.
Kirk stepped forwards, and completely ignoring his date - the Andorian chick who he actually couldn’t bring himself to talk to despite the fact they were in the same tutorial (his eyes just couldn’t stop following her ANTENNAS - they were like, moving, all the freaking time - Kirk calling them hot and giving way too much detail on wanting to lick them and rub them in weird places just made them more freaky to him) - took Polina’s hand in a gallant swipe and kissed it. OH GROSS. One just didn’t know where Kirk’s mouth has been!
Apparently Polina had the same idea because she promptly whipped her hand away. ‘NO, DON’T!’ She cried in alarm.
Suddenly, Kirk got a strange expression on his face and keeled over on the grass.
What. The. Fuck.
The Andorian chick’s antennas flattened like an angry cat’s. She tilted her head and stared down the unconscious blond with bemused expression on her face. Hikaru stepped past Polina and stood over his friend.
Twisting her hands together, Polina shrugged with a sheepish smile. ‘I try to warn him...’
Warn him of what?
===
‘Wait you have anti-social spray on your hands??’ Cadet Hikaru’s eyes were wide as he hissed. ‘More importantly, why do you put anti-social spray on your hands?’
Polina glared back at him, ‘It’s very popular on Vulcan, and Commander Spock insisted - was direct order, I cannot ignore direct order.’
‘And it causes fainting when someone tries to kiss you on the hand?’ The cadet’s voice took on a new note, his expression aghast. She stood upright, a little pissed off now. It wasn’t like it was her idea! Who booby-trapped their hands so someone kissing them induced narcolepsy? Not her! She wasn’t crazy! She was - OH SHIT! Polina covered her eyes - the Commander sprayed her entire arms with it this time.
Stupid crazy Vulcan Commander! She’d never complained before because no one kissed her hands; no one kissed her at all. Trust him to ruin the one evening she’d been looking forwards to for the entire term when he was a thirty million kilometers away on shore leave. When he came back, his room was going to be an icy hell and the only thing his personal replicator will make will be meatballs - her fingers twitched, itching for a computer terminal.
‘It’s very popular on Vulcan!’ She snapped, ‘And yes - it makes sleep but it requires mouth contact to do that!’
And one spray lasted on average for two weeks. TWO WEEKS. Argh.
‘Vulcans,’ The Andorian girl sneered, giving her a dark look. ‘I never liked them.’ With that, she turned and headed towards the main doors of the Promenade auditorium, her antennas jiggling about suspiciously like they were laughing. Polina narrowed her eyes.
Cadet Hikaru made strange noise and ran both hands through his hair, staring down at his friend. The unconscious cadet was being tended by two girls from Medical.
‘He’ll be fine.’ She smiled, reaching out to pat Hikaru on the arm. ‘Is completely harmless, finishes in five minutes.’ Exactly five minutes - Vulcans invented it after all.
He flinched and took a step back away from her. Oh of course. She put her hand down and sighed, giving him a sad look. Everything had started out so well: he was cute, he was nice, he bought her a mini bouquet and he’d let her have a nip of vodka without calling the police, but now… she looked away and sniffed. If he ruined this evening, she would make sure that every damn building in the whole of the Academy stopped recognizing his entry codes, and that his shower only had cold water for the entire stinking month.
And right on time, the blond cadet groaned, eyes opening up and fluttering at them. ‘Hey guys.’
Cadet Hikaru heaved a sigh of relief and glanced at her, giving her a small smile. She beamed back. Crouching down, she grabbed the fallen cadet by the front of his rumpled tuxedo and dragged him onto his feet. She had a prom to get to - and he needed to get up so her date would stop being afraid of her and escort her in!
‘Polina Chekova!’ She said brightly, and when he gave her a dazed look, slapped him square across the face. Commander Spock said that the vigorous motion would get the human adrenal system to kick in and aid in a quick recovery. ‘Look sharp, Cadet Blue-Eyes! The prom is on and your date went without you!’
Behind her, Cadet Hikaru made a strange noise. She glanced back. The cadet dropped his arm out of the air and quickly crossed, looking oddly pained. ‘Um, Polina, just, just - don’t, okay, just - just leave him to the professionals, please?’
Polina sighed and let go of the cadet’s friend, stepping back. The blond gave her a wide-eyed sloppy smile as the two medics led him away before turning to the closest girl holding onto him, a blond girl with short hair who said she was a nurse and knew the cadet.
‘Christine? Is that your lovely face I’m seeing? My favorite nurse…’
‘Come on,’ Cadet Hikaru said, already turning away, ‘Let’s just - let’s just get to the prom, okay?’
She beamed happily and took a deep breath. ‘Okay!’
Hitching up her fluffy skirts, Polina hurried after him.
====
Hikaru Sulu fiddled with the edge of his soiled napkin and wondered what he was doing here exactly. Was he supposed to make sure that no one put the big bad moves on Polina Chekova? (From the shape and consistency of the muscle structure in what little of her legs that he’d seen, she could take out the trash herself) Was he supposed to keep her company, make sure she didn’t feel like a social pariah? From her confident greeting, the way she’d charmed and hustled her way through the crowd to get to the bar, and then manipulated the Sulamid barkeep to give her what she wanted, she didn’t need to be made to feel comfortable - she needed a psychiatric evaluation.
But he supposed…
She sat at the table, quietly working through her third bowl of strawberries and cream ice cream, eyes fixated on the dance floor. From the way she was glancing about the place and the uncertain hunch of her shoulders - Hikaru felt his heart go out to her. Poor thing, he sighed under his breath, being young and brilliant wasn’t a walk in the park, he knew. He wasn’t brilliant enough to be one year from graduation at her age (what was she? Seventeen? Eighteen?) but he’d been smart enough to feel the sting of awkwardness that came with knowing too much, seeing the world from a different perspective, being singled out. Polina Chekova wanted to dance - that was pretty much obvious. The girl had been practically dying to go to this stupid Prom. And to be stuck with him - someone who didn’t even know her, didn’t ask her out to this dance, was just assigned to her like a fucking guard dog… well, if he was in her shoes, it wouldn’t have gone down well but she didn’t even act like she resented him, not even a little.
Pushing aside his apprehensions, Hikaru stood and rounded the table to kneel next to her chair. He resisted the urge to back away from all that taffeta. She turned to him with a surprised look.
‘Cadet Hikaru,’ She said brightly, sucking on a spoonful of ice cream, ‘What up?’
He nodded to the floor, ‘Wanna dance?’
The smile was bright enough to light up Archer Stadium.
next