Sulu/Chekov Holiday Fic #1
I was only planning on writing three Sulu/Chekov holiday stories, but then someone wrote something on the meme that featured the kids I made up for them and asdlfjwoeirjweo well I had to write a kid-related story after that.
I will post another one tomorrow, then one on Christmas Eve, then one on Christmas!! They will all be sequels to previous fics.
Title: Winter Break
Fandom: Star Trek
Pairing: Sulu/Chekov
Rating: R
Word Count: ~9,000
Summary: Sulu and Chekov go to Earth to visit their son during his winter break at the Academy. Sequel to Between the Bars.
Hikaru can hardly sit still in the shuttle as they head from the transport station to Earth. Pavel is beside him, looking kind of hilarious in a gray sweater and corduroy pants; Hikaru can't remember the last time he saw Pavel in anything other than a uniform or his underwear. He's staring out the window of the shuttle with a look of intense concentration on his face, his lap loaded down with bags full of gifts he's collected from alien planets and space stations over the past year and a half. Hikaru can't believe it's been that long since they've seen their son, but they've got work and Luka has his studies at the Academy, and this is what life is like when your children are grown, he supposes. He knows that Pavel is trying very hard not to get emotional. It's lucky, actually, that Katie Chapel is here, so that Pavel can pour all of his emotional energy into being extremely irritated that Kirk allowed her to come with them.
"I can't believe we'll be there in just a few hours," Katie says, sniffling and wiping at her eyes with a tissue. Katie, of course, has no qualms about breaking down in front of Hikaru and Pavel. Katie and Luka have maintained a long distance relationship, communicating in the same way that Luka has communicated with Hikaru and Pavel, via PADD messages and video chats. Hikaru thought that their relationship was cooling off based on his chats with Luka, but apparently it's still strong enough to warrant a trip to Earth. Pavel is not happy about this arrangement; he wanted this to be a family-only trip. Luka is on his winter break and they're going to celebrate Christmas at Hikaru's sister's house in San Francisco.
"It's exciting," Hikaru agrees when Pavel says nothing. He wishes Pavel wouldn't make this so damn uncomfortable, but it's been no secret that he doesn't like Katie ever since she and Luka were caught sleeping together when Luka was only fifteen.
When the shuttle finally docks at the station just outside of town, they decide the transports are too crowded and instead pile into an old-fashioned taxi cab. It's just three days before Christmas and everyone is transporting somewhere, most of them overloaded with gifts. Hikaru puts the window in the cab down and breathes in the familiar air of his hometown, smiling out at the city. He reaches over to put his hand on Pavel's knee and gives it a squeeze. Pavel smiles at him tightly; he seems almost nervous. Hikaru is, too, in a strange way. Though they see him regularly on video chats, he knows Luka will have changed a lot after his first year at the Academy.
"Oh, God," Katie says, her eyes getting wet as the Academy comes into view. "This is so - I'm freaking out."
Pavel groans a little under his breath and Hikaru elbows him.
"Luka's going to be so happy to see all of us," Hikaru says, giving Pavel a look. He knows that Pavel will want to tear Katie away if she runs up to hug Luka first.
"This traffic is so bad, Hikaru," Pavel says. The shake in his voice is subtle enough that only Hikaru would ever notice it. He reaches over to take Pavel's hand and gives it a squeeze. It's been so hard for them, the first year away from Luka; no amount of video chats can equal the reassurance they feel when they hug him or spend the whole day with him on a space station, answering his endless questions about why things are done a certain way in this or that alien culture. He's talked about majoring in Exoanthropology, which Pavel is of course horrified about, though he's kept this opinion mostly to himself. With Luka so far away, they haven't been bickering like they used to, and Hikaru knows they both miss it, the closeness that prevents them from censoring any opinion or remark.
They arrive at the Academy and walk to Luka's dorm, Katie blowing her nose into a tissue and Pavel looking grave, hugging the bags full of gifts to his chest. Hikaru shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket and looks around; he's got such good memories here, and the place looks mostly the same as it did when he was a student, save for a few upgrades. It's nearly empty, most of the students away for the break, and it makes Hikaru feel peaceful, remembering the way things would get quiet after all the stress and frenzy of final exams.
When they reach Luka's room Katie and Pavel both hang back as if they're afraid of the joy they'll experience at finally seeing him again, so it's Hikaru who steps forward to knock. Just the clatter of footsteps behind the door makes his heart feel heavy and his eyes water, and when Luka pulls open the door Hikaru realizes that it's him who Pavel will want to pummel, because he's the first one who throws his arms around Luka's shoulders.
"Dad!" Luka says, laughing happily against Hikaru's shoulder and hugging him hard. Hikaru knows that Pavel and Katie are both eager to put their arms around him and that he shouldn't hang on for too long, but he's thinking of that day in the church on Antearch, when Luka reached for him as if they'd never been apart, and, God, he doesn't want to let him go.
Luka's eyes are wet when Hikaru pulls back, so Hikaru doesn't feel too embarrassed by his own tears. He kisses Luka's forehead before releasing him, and Katie hurries forward with a little yelp, jumping onto Luka and making him take a few steps backward with the force of her embrace. Luka laughs, a little differently, Hikaru thinks, maybe nervous. He's looking at Pavel over Katie's shoulder, smiling, tears running down his cheeks. Hikaru takes the bags from Pavel's hands.
"God, I missed you!" Katie is weeping openly, wiping at her nose. Luka smiles at her, gives her shoulders a squeeze, then moves toward Pavel, whose lip is quivering as he steps forward.
"Papa," Luka says, a sob swallowing up most of the word as Pavel pulls him into his arms. Hikaru wipes at his eyes as he watches Pavel rock Luka in his arms, his hand stroking down the back of Luka's head. Luka was all alone when Pavel found him, and what they went through together on the planet where Luka's biological parents were killed bonded them in a way that almost destroyed Pavel when he had to give Luka up. Pavel is whispering something in Russian, and Hikaru has heard this enough times to translate: my baby, my baby.
"Jesus," Luka says, leaning back to wipe at his eyes. He laughs, and Hikaru knows he must be embarrassed, and suddenly wishes very much that Katie wasn't here so that he wouldn't have to be. "I - come in, okay?"
"Da, da," Pavel says. They walk into Luka's small dorm room, everybody trying to regain their composure, Pavel with his hand on Luka's back. Hikaru expected Luka to glue himself to Katie the way Pavel used to glue himself to Hikaru when he was a teenager in love, all other commitments be damned, but Luka seems more interested in showing his parents the things he's amassed in his room over the past year and a half: books and art prints tacked to the wall with sticky gum, a geode he found on a hike with his friends, a scar on his side from the appendix he had to have removed during his second semester. Hikaru smiles to himself, thinking that not so much has changed, really: Luka was like this when he was little, running home from his classes on the Enterprise to show Hikaru and Pavel something he'd drawn, pointing out all the important elements to make sure they appreciated them.
"I'm so glad you're here," Luka says, beaming. "You guys - uh. Want a drink?"
"Yes," Hikaru says, just as Pavel says Da, and they look at each other and grin.
"Sure," Katie says. She's hovering at Luka's side, looking at him as if she's not sure she's allowed to touch him in the presence of his parents. Luka goes to the closet and comes out with a bottle of cheap-looking Scotch.
"I got this for your visit," he says, tearing off the wrapping around the cap. He's blushing, as if he wants to impress them, and Hikaru remembers this, the first time his parents came poking around his off-campus apartment; he cleaned all day and hoped that his mother would appreciate the candle he lit in the hall bathroom.
"We have many things for you, too," Pavel says, fussing with the bags full of gifts. "Maybe I should save some and wrap them for Christmas?" Pavel grew up without religion of any kind and he's never spent Christmas with Hikaru's family before; he seems a bit confused by the whole concept.
"Whatever you guys want to do," Luka says, smiling as he pours four glasses of scotch. "I got you some stuff, too. I'll save it for Christmas, though."
"This campus is so awesome," Katie says. "I can't wait to come here."
"Yeah." Luka hands her a glass of scotch. "It's been, like. The best year of my life."
Pavel beams at this news and Katie takes a deep drink of scotch, coughing a little. Luka hands Hikaru and Pavel their glasses.
"Well." Luka lifts his glass. "To - to all of you being here. I've missed you so much, God."
They click their glasses and drink. Hikaru wants to do nothing for the rest of the night but hold onto Luka, and his eyes burn when he remembers the nights when Luka would come to their bed, needing comfort after a nightmare. Hikaru had felt so complete when their son was curled between them, safe and warm. He misses the days when Luka was small enough to be carried, smiling proudly at the crew members they passed in the halls of the Enterprise, his little arms around Hikaru's neck.
"Should we get something to eat?" Hikaru asks.
"Maybe another glass first," Pavel says, holding his out. "This is very good."
It's not, actually, but Hikaru grins and accepts another glass, too, proud of Pavel for knowing that he should say so. Katie looks a little queasy but accepts a second glass as well.
"So I have to tell you about my Advanced Theoretical final, Pop," Luka says, sitting down next to Pavel on the bed that must be his, because those are the sheets that Hikaru helped Pavel put on it when they moved Luka into this room a year and a half ago.
"Oh? Was it difficult?"
Hikaru can hear the fear in Pavel's voice: what if his son isn't a brilliant physicist?
"No, it was totally easy, but there was this one question about quantum chromodynamics and my friend got up in the middle of the exam and told our professor that the model on the test wasn't balanced correctly and he flipped out, but it was unbalanced, probably just a typo, but of course he took it personally."
"Ah! Which was professor was this? Not Baxter?"
"Yes, Baxter, of course it was Baxter!"
Pavel laughs hard, his head tipping back. Hikaru smirks; Luka and Pavel are always going on about Baxter on their video calls, a professor who had hated Pavel when he was a student here because of incidents like this, corrections and back talk.
"There was practically a riot after that," Luka says. "The exam had to be rescheduled."
"Who is this friend of yours who walked up in front of everyone and corrected the old bastard?" Pavel asks. "I want to meet him."
"Oh - it's my friend Meghan, she's - you'll meet her."
Luka's cheeks go faintly pink and an uncomfortable silence settles over the room, Katie staring as if she's waiting to hear more. Hikaru looks down into his glass and clears his throat.
"Should we go eat?" Hikaru asks, and everyone hurries to agree that yes, they should.
They go to Luka's favorite restaurant, a pub near campus that has good pizza. Hikaru gets kind of drunk and laughs at all of Luka's stories about the school year, some that he's already heard. Luka seems so much more mature than he did when they dropped him off, and sturdier, not so skinny. Hikaru is sort of proud that he became a fencer and not a runner. He took third place in a school-wide tournament back in May, the highest-ranking freshman by far.
"Will you show me around tomorrow?" Katie asks, her chin practically on Luka's shoulder.
"Sure," Luka says, looking to Hikaru and Pavel. "Unless - Dad, did we have something planned with aunt Meiko and them?" He looks sort of hopeful.
"No," Hikaru says. "We can do a tour of the campus in the morning - it'll be fun."
Hikaru sees Katie's shoulders drop; she was clearly hoping that she'd get a private tour, maybe one that began and ended with Luka's dorm room bed. Luka seems relieved. When they go back to his dorm to say goodnight on the front steps after dinner, Katie seems to be waiting to be invited up, but Luka just kisses her on the forehead and tells her he'll see her tomorrow. She's silent on the way to Hikaru's sister's house.
"Luka doesn't seem as happy to see Katie as I thought he'd be," Hikaru says as he's unpacking his things into the drawers of his sister's guest room. Katie is in another guest room down the hall, and Hikaru feels bad for her; he wouldn't have objected to letting her stay in the dorm room with Luka.
"Well, what did I tell you?" Pavel says. He stretches out on the bed, smug in only his underwear, hands folded behind his head. "I knew he would lose interest as soon as he experienced the real world."
"Poor girl," Hikaru says. He pulls off his clothes and hangs them over the back of a chair.
"She will recover," Pavel says.
"I guess. Don't you remember what it was like to be in love when you were that age?"
"Yes." Pavel smiles sweetly as Hikaru lowers himself down over him in bed, reaching behind him to pull the blankets up over them. "I remember," Pavel says, his hands skimming over Hikaru's sides so softly that Hikaru shivers. "I would sit at the little desk in my room on the ship and be unable to concentrate, thinking about how perfect you were, how much I needed you, and I would feel so hopeless."
"Poor little Pavel," Hikaru says. He kisses Pavel's cheeks, then his lips, moaning into the wet heat of his mouth. Pavel has the most unbelievably adorable little tongue, rounded at the tip, and Hikaru still gets rock hard just from licking across it with the tip of his own.
"Yes, I was tortured by the thought of you," Pavel says, breathing a little harder now. "I would listen to music and every song was all about you, and how you were meant to be with me."
"Oh, God. I wanted you, too, and I felt so fucking guilty for it. You would come over to watch a movie with me and as soon as you were gone I'd stuff my face into the pillow while it still smelled like you -"
"Hikaru, oh -"
"And I'd jerk myself off and pretend you were lying underneath me like this, warm and soft and wide-open and mine, all mine."
Pavel groans, grinding up against Hikaru. "I am yours," he says, panting. "Hikaru, ah, I'm yours, take me."
Hikaru still feels like he did when Pavel was a teenager who cried as Hikaru opened him up for the first time, his mouth so wet under Hikaru's while he nodded and breathed deeply, learning how to be fucked. Hikaru groans at the memory, hoping everyone else in the house is fast asleep, because he's not sure he can be quiet. Pavel is shaking with need, holding himself open and rocking up against Hikaru's thrusts, tilting his hips so that he can have Hikaru deeper and deeper.
"You like that?" Hikaru whispers roughly in Pavel's ear. "That what you need?"
"Yes, da, oh, please -"
"Shh," Hikaru whispers, though he's the one making all the noise, fucking Pavel hard enough to knock the bed against the wall. Pavel is totally lost to it, flushed and open and completely surrendered, the way Hikaru likes him, a quivering mess of need beneath him.
"Can I let you come?" Hikaru asks, because he's getting close himself. "Can I, or are you going to scream my name if I do?"
"I - I - Hikaru, oh -"
"God, I wish I could let you, nothing better than hearing you sob it out so loud -"
"Hikaru, ahhh, please!"
"It feels good, doesn't it, screaming my name like that?"
"Uhh, yes -"
"Why - ah - why, because you're mine? 'Cause you know it? 'Cause you can feel it in your bones when you take my come?"
"Yes, yes, yes, Hikaru -"
Hikaru grins; Pavel would agree to anything in this state, his curls dark with sweat and his eyes sightless with lust, pupils so fat as he stares up at Hikaru, begging, Hikaru's hand moving too slow on his cock.
"You need to come?" Hikaru asks in a grunt. Hikaru does, badly, and he slows his thrusts to hold it back. Pavel sobs in complaint, nodding wildly.
"Yes, da, so much, please -"
"Gonna be quiet for me?"
"Mhmmmm, yes, please!"
Hikaru grabs Pavel's hips and tilts them up even further, Pavel's chin tucked to his chest as he groans in approval. Hikaru fucks him mercilessly against the place that makes it hardest for Pavel to keep quiet, and Pavel has to bite his hand as Hikaru squeezes his orgasm out of him, pumping Pavel's cock as he comes all over himself, wincing and crying at the inability to shout. Hikaru bites his tongue hard when he comes, tears stinging into his eyes at the pain, and it's worth it; in the moment he'd bite the tip right off if he had to, the pain throbbing sharply against the pleasure.
His muscles ache when he's through, reminding him that he's not as young as he used to be. Still, he feels like a teenager with Pavel's face pressed against his, both of them breathing hard as they recover, sweaty and sex-scented, smiling as if they've just gotten away with something, as if Hikaru will have to climb out the window before dawn or be caught by Pavel's parents.
"Do you think your sister heard us?" Pavel whispers. He's smiling like he kind of hopes she did; it's as if he's proud of the way Hikaru makes him fall apart, and Hikaru would be hard again at the thought if he were a younger man.
"I don't know," Hikaru says. "I just hope Katie didn't."
Pavel snorts and rolls over, pressing his back to Hikaru's damp chest. Hikaru curls around him, kissing his neck and breathing in the well-fucked smell of him.
"I'm so happy," Pavel says, his eyes closed on the pillow. "So proud of Luka. So glad we are here."
"Me too. But hey, should we let the kids go off together tomorrow morning? I think they need to talk."
"No! Hikaru! We are only here for two weeks, and he is ours, too!"
"Okay, okay." Hikaru sighs and tucks his face against Pavel's neck, ready for sleep and a little worried about how all of this is going to play out. Pavel might remember what it was like to long for someone as a teenager, but he never learned what it was like to get his heart broken as one, because Hikaru was so careful with it, wanting nothing more than to protect Pavel from that kind of pain forever.
*
In the morning, Hikaru and Pavel have sleepy, spooning sex before their shower, moaning out little laughs, because it's been a long time since they had the luxury of waking up late and taking their time in bed. By the time they get into the shower Pavel is in a hurry, eager to spend the day with Luka. Katie is impatient, too, waiting for them at the table when they come down for breakfast. Hikaru spends some time catching up with his sister, something he was too exhausted to do much of last night, and he thinks about spending the day with her and his nephews, but the idea of sending Pavel and Katie off together to see Luka isn't a brilliant one, so he joins them when they leave for the Academy.
"What a beautiful day!" Katie says as they're walking across campus toward Luka's dorm. She was born in space and this is only her third trip to Earth. Hikaru smiles in agreement, happy to be back on his home planet, even if the air is a good deal more polluted than some others he's been to.
"I wonder when Luka will get his grades for the semester," Pavel says. "You watch, Hikaru, I bet he did better in his physics class than in any of that xenoanthropology nonsense."
"It's not nonsense, Pavel, it's important to try and understand alien cultures. Hell, that's what you and I do more than anything, in the great scheme of things."
"Yes, and we did not need to waste time obtaining a degree in this basic skill in order to do it well!"
"But Luka loves studying alien cultures," Katie says, pouting in Pavel's direction. "Shouldn't you study what you love most?"
"He loves physics most, he just doesn't know it yet."
Hikaru snorts and covers his face with his hand. Luka has absolutely no interest in botany whatsoever, but Hikaru has never taken it personally. The fact that Luka loves fencing does ease the blow, though.
When they get to Luka's room they knock on the door expecting Luka to pop up to answer it just as he did last night, but instead there's a long pause, the noises of quiet scrambling coming from behind the door, and a few harsh whispers, as if he's not alone. Hikaru gives Pavel a panicked look over Katie's head; he really doesn't want to spend his Christmas comforting a sobbing teenage girl.
"Luke?" Katie calls through the door. Luka's request to go by this nickname only ever worked with her.
"Coming, just -" Luka pulls the door open and looks out at them with his eyes wide and his hair a mess, sticking up at odd angles. He laughs a little, his cheeks going from ghost white to deep pink. There's definitely someone else in the room behind him.
"I didn't know you'd be here this early," he says. "I was just - my friend is here, my physics tutor."
"Tutor!" Pavel scoffs. "You need no tutor."
"Yeah, Pop, sometimes I do," Luka says tightly, giving Pavel a look. Luka opens the door a bit wider and scratches at the back of his head as his parents and Katie peer into the room. Luka's physics tutor is, as Hikaru suspected, a rather beautiful girl. She must be part-Orion, because her skin is a very pale green and her hair is long and wavy, strawberry blond. She smiles at them meekly. Hikaru can feel the angry heat coming off of Katie like radiation. He hopes that she won't notice that Luka's physics tutor is wearing one of Luka's t-shirts over her tight jeans, a green one that Pavel bought for Luka on Minick-5, the cursive script of that planet's language tight across the girl's chest.
"Um," Luka says, to break the silence that has settled over the room. He winces. "Oh, sorry, um, this is Meghan, my friend - my tutor - and, Meg, this is my dad, Hikaru, and my pop, Pavel, and my - and - and - and Katie. From space."
Hikaru can see that Pavel is trying very hard not to grin evilly at this turn of events. Katie, meanwhile, has gone from boiling with rage to icy and frozen with shock, looking back and forth from Luka to Meghan. Hikaru sighs and steps forward to shake Meghan's hand.
"Nice to meet you," he says. "I hear you caused a riot during the physics final."
"Oh!" She laughs self-consciously. "I was just - just trying to, you know. Be accurate."
"Yes, it was a fantastic story!" Pavel says, rushing forward to shake Meghan's hand enthusiastically. "I don't know if Luka has told you, but I had Baxter when I was a student here and he hated me very much! It is a shame that tenure protects substandard instructors like him, yes?"
"Oh, absolutely. Luka and I were talking about writing to the dean about him, but I don't know, I feel bad, ruining someone's career -"
"I told her," Luka says, popping up over her shoulder. "The guy has enjoyed this long career of mediocrity already and he'd basically just be forced into retirement, it wouldn't be that big of a deal."
"Tell me, are you Orion?" Pavel asks, putting his hand on Meghan's shoulder.
"Pop!" Luka says, and Hikaru groans inwardly.
"It's okay," Meghan says. "I'm not ashamed of it. My mother is, yeah. Dad's from Earth."
"Ah!" Pavel grins. "My best friend at the Academy was Orion! We were both very lonely, the other girls did not like her because she drew the boys away from them, and nobody liked me because I started at the Academy when I was very young. Her - qualities - had no affect on me because I was not attracted to women, so we could just be friends. She died on the Farragut, I still miss her all the time."
"Okay, Pop," Luka says, reaching over to slide Pavel's hand from Meghan's shoulder. "Now that she knows your life story, maybe she can get on with her day."
"She should come with us!" Pavel says, and Hikaru barely stops himself from slapping his hand over his face. Like most geniuses Hikaru has met, Pavel can be very oblivious to the emotions of people around him, and poor Katie is stiff with anguish, still standing near the door.
"Oh, that's okay, but thank you for the invitation." Meghan smiles at Pavel and gives Luka a quick, nervous glance. "I should go."
"Yeah, okay." Luka is staring at her sadly. "But - ah." He looks over at Katie and stops himself from encouraging Meghan to come. "Okay."
After Meghan has gone, Hikaru gives Luka a long look, and Luka widens his eyes just a bit as if to ask him to leave it alone. Pavel is oblivious, grinning to himself, hands on his hips.
"I admire these Orion students so much," he says. "They have so many things working against them, and people take such a bad attitude toward them - I can just imagine Baxter's reaction to not only a student but an Orion correcting him! Ha! Fantastic."
"It was pretty great," Luka says. He smiles wistfully for a moment, then comes back to himself, turning to look at Katie. She's got her arms folded over her chest, her lips pressed together. "Ready to check out the campus?" Luka asks. Katie nods wearily and walks over to take Luka's hand.
"Tell me," Pavel says as they leave the building. "Your friend Meghan - is she majoring in Physics?"
"Yes, Pop," Luka says. He gives Hikaru a desperate look and Hikaru sighs, taking hold of Pavel's arm.
"Anyway," Hikaru says, casting around desperately for a subject change. "It, uh. Sure is a beautiful day."
"Physics was my friend Gaila's major, also!" Pavel says. "Oh, Gaila. What a waste that was, so many of our classmates killed that day."
"Yes, we should visit the memorial," Hikaru says.
They do, and this sets a grim tone for the day, Pavel talking sadly about the time when they returned to the Academy after the conflict with Nero. Hikaru puts his arm around Pavel as they walk, remembering it. That was when he had begun to fall in love with Pavel. They had lunch together after the memorial service and Pavel told Hikaru all about Gaila. Hikaru had wanted to slide into the booth beside Pavel and gather him into his arms to comfort him. He kisses the side of Pavel's head now, squeezing him closer.
Hikaru doesn't get a moment alone with Luka until they're all back at his sister's house, Pavel speaking with Scotty on his communicator about some minor problem with the auxiliary warp panels on the Enterprise; he can never really leave his work behind, something Hikaru is glad for, because he's the same way. Katie is in the kitchen with Hikaru's sister, helping her begin to put dinner together, and Hikaru uses the opportunity to pull Luka out into the backyard for a chat.
"Dad," Luka says, giving him a look that tells Hikaru he's aware of what he's about to say. "I know. I know. Trust me, I didn't plan it this way."
"Well, what exactly was the plan, Luka? Bringing the poor girl all the way from space just so she can meet your new girlfriend in person?"
"She's not my new girlfriend! She's just a friend, and she's been really helping me with, like, talking about the whole long-distance relationship thing, and how it's been hard, and then last night she came over after you guys left and I was talking all about Katie and how things have changed and how hard it is because I used to love her so much -- and I still do, in a way, but it's different -- and I looked up and Meg was all teary-eyed and she said she didn't think she could stand to hear me talk about Katie anymore, and I asked her why, though I kind of knew, and she got up to leave and I grabbed her arm to stop her and, oh, God, Dad, we kissed, and it was like, like --"
"Jesus, slow down." Hikaru takes Luka's arm and drags him further from the sliding glass doors so that this won't be overheard. "So -- you're kidding me -- all of this started last night?"
"Well, it started before that, I mean I've always liked Meg, but I thought it was just the like, pull of the Orions or whatever? But I noticed that she didn't have other guys hanging all over her all the time and she told me that the crazy pheromone thing is a sex-linked genetic trait and that she didn't inherit it from her mom and so then I had to like, deal with the fact that I'd been, you know, fantasizing about my friend all this time and I had no excuse --"
"Okay, wait." Hikaru doesn't really need to hear about his son's fantasies; Luka takes after Pavel in the chronic over-sharing department. "So -- you have real feelings for this girl?"
"Yes! Well, I've been confused, but last night -- oh, man --"
"Okay, okay --"
"And also, Dad, after Meg and I had been friends for about a year, I told her about how Pop found me and everything, and how you guys had to give me up for awhile, and how hard it was, and Dad she started crying, and then I started crying, and I was so embarrassed but also kind of not, you know? And we hugged, and it was like she was the first person I'd ever really talked about it with. When I told Katie, we were younger and stuff, but she just gasped a lot." Luka shrugs. He looks kind of devastated, and Hikaru pats his back, sighing.
"I don't want to hurt Katie," Luka says. "I know I'm being a coward. I wanted to talk about our relationship in person once she got here, then all that stuff happened with Meg last night, then you guys were just suddenly, like, there."
"Yeah. Sorry about that. But -- oh, God, I don't know what to tell you. She's going to be really hurt, but I guess you just have to get it over with. Don't tell her about Meg."
"Dad, I think she knows about Meg! She's not stupid."
"Then why is she just -- why didn't she explode and scream at you in the dorm room?" It's what Pavel would have done. Pavel and Hikaru have had some epic, vicious fights in their time, but thankfully those days seem to be behind them.
"That's just how Katie is," Luka says, groaning. "It's part of the reason I don't feel that close to her anymore. She kind of shuts down, or doesn't want to deal with her emotions, and, fuck, you and Pop raised me to, like, confront that shit, you know?"
"God, since when is every other word out of your mouth a curse?" Hikaru asks, more bothered by this than he would have expected to be. Luka grins.
"Um, this is only surprising to you because you don't speak Russian. Me and Pop have always been kind of colorful with each other."
"Jesus, I should have guessed. Anyway, just -- tell her tonight, okay? Get it over with."
Luka groans and rubs his hand over his face. He seems very young again, suddenly, and Hikaru has to fight the urge to ruffle his hair.
"I'm so glad you and Pop are here," Luka says, surging forward suddenly to give Hikaru a quick hug.
"Me, too," Hikaru says. He pinches Luka's cheek when he pulls back to smile at him. "I wish we could teleport back here every night to have dinner with you."
"You'll be able to when they invent better transport technology."
"Yeah, I'll tell your Pop and Scotty to get on that."
They start to walk inside, and Hikaru takes Luka's arm before he can reach for the door handle.
"Hey, um." He rubs the back of his neck, wishing he could be fearless with this subject the way that Pavel is. "Last night, with Meg -- you did remember to, um, use something, right?"
Luka rolls his eyes. "Yeah, Dad, I'm not stupid."
"Well, I don't know! In the heat of the moment -- things can happen." Hikaru is blushing so badly that he hurries into the house, embarrassed and swatting at Luka when he snickers. He goes into the dining room, where Pavel is pacing around and talking with Scotty, saying something about cleaning the copper residue off the secondary warp chamber. Hikaru wraps his arms around Pavel's shoulders and leans against him, kissing the back of his head. Pavel puts his hand over Hikaru's folded arms and continues his conversation, settling into his embrace.
"Well, just try it!" Pavel says, and flips his communicator shut, cursing under his breath. "Stubborn old man," he says, pushing the communicator back into his pocket.
"Did you teach our son Russian curse words?" Hikaru asks, licking Pavel's ear into his mouth until Pavel laughs.
"Not intentionally," Pavel says. "You know I have no filter."
"I do know that. Listen, I just talked to Luka. I think he's in love with that girl."
"It is lust and boredom only, Hikaru, how many times do I have to tell you?"
"Not Katie, Meg, the girl in his dorm room."
"Oh!" Pavel turns in Hikaru's arms, beaming.
"Yeah, I thought you'd like that."
"Well, I found her very charming! What did he say, exactly? Oh -- how is he going to let this other one down?"
"'This other one?' Pavel, you've known Katie Chapel since she was a baby. You're being really cruel."
"No -- I -- it was a mistranslation, the wrong English. I do feel badly for the girl, I knew this day would come. She must know she will never find another like Luka!"
"Quit looking so gleeful. She's gonna be here with us for the next two weeks! We'll have to be on suicide watch."
"Hikaru, you are being melodramatic. These are children, they could not have expected to stay together forever."
"You were younger than Katie when I -- when you --"
"When I fell in love with you?" Pavel kisses Hikaru's nose. "This is true, but I was a genius, she is not."
"Being a genius doesn't make you any better at this kind of stuff. You just got lucky with me, 'cause I was your willing slave from day one."
Pavel's face changes, his smile softening. He moans a little and presses his face to Hikaru's neck.
"I know that I am lucky, Hikaru."
"Yeah, well. Luka's pretty upset. He really doesn't want to hurt Katie, he cares about her. I think after all this time apart he sees her as someone small and young who he needs to protect. I know what that's like. Fortunately for all of us I was in love with the person I felt so protective of."
"Are we still talking about me?"
"Yes, Pavel."
Pavel sighs and leans back, gazing up at Hikaru with a dopey little grin.
"Luka is such a good person," Pavel says. "Better than me. Thank you for teaching our son this, how to not want to hurt someone."
"You're not exactly the Marquis de Sade," Hikaru says. He hugs Pavel to him, again remembering that week after the memorial service for those killed by Nero, the eerie quiet of the campus, Pavel asleep in Hikaru's dead roommate's old bed, keeping him company, needing to wake up and know that someone was there, his own room similarly half-empty following the attack. Hikaru had wanted to carry Pavel everywhere, to thank him again and again for being one of the cadets who was spared. He caught himself putting toothpaste on Pavel's toothbrush for him one night before they retired to their separate beds and blushed so hard he was afraid he'd have sunburn in the morning. Pavel just smiled to himself, pretending that it wasn't the weirdest thing anyone had ever done. He's always taken care of Hikaru, too.
They go into the kitchen, where Katie and Luka are laughing over a bowl of stuffing that Meiko has instructed them to mix, two spoons pounding at the contents. For a moment the scene seems perfectly cheerful, as if Luka and Katie are brother and sister, but when the back door opens suddenly they both jump, betraying their anxiety.
"Hey," Hikaru's nephew mutters, slamming the door behind him. Johnny is Meiko's middle son, nineteen years old and so far doing nothing with his life except playing the drums in his friend's band. Hikaru tries to tell Meiko not to worry about him too much, that he's still young enough to be allowed to find himself, but Hikaru and his sisters were never allowed that luxury, and Meiko is already panicking about Johnny.
"Where have you been all day?" Meiko asks as Johnny goes for the fridge. He opens it and stares into it, his expression grave, as if he's confronting the abyss. "And did you even notice that your cousin is here?"
Johnny looks over his shoulder at Luka, a guilty expression crossing his face. He's handsome, his hair spiked with gel, way cooler than Hikaru was at his age. Hikaru only put gel in his hair to slick it back for science club group portraits.
"Hey, Luka," Johnny mutters before turning back to the fridge.
"Hey," Luka says. "Are you gonna stay for dinner? Did you meet my girlfriend?"
In the presence of Johnny, suddenly Katie is Luka's girlfriend again. Johnny looks over his shoulder, giving Katie a quick, almost timid glance.
"Yeah," he says. "I mean, no." And then he walks out of the room.
"That kid," Meiko mutters. "Sorry he was so rude to you, Katie. He's a little -- well."
"That's okay." Katie blushes and starts pounding at the stuffing again.
"Has Johnny given any thought to coming to the Academy?" Luka asks. Meiko snorts.
"Are you kidding? Then he'd have to recognize an authority figure of some kind. Hikaru." She looks at her brother pleadingly. "Do you think you could talk to him while you're here? Ever since his dad left -- well."
"Uh." Like Hikaru doesn't have enough emotionally unbalanced teenagers to deal with. "Sure."
For dinner it's just the six of them and Meiko's youngest son, Daniel, who monopolizes most of the conversation with bragging questions directed at Luka. Daniel is at MIT doing genetics research, and he seems to think that serving in Starfleet is rather quaint. Hikaru is beginning to get fed up with the kid himself, and admires Luka for his patient, monotone answers.
"Do they actually make you guys participate in recreational sports?" Daniel asks with a little scoff.
"It's required, yeah, you have to take a phys ed credit." Luka's eyes are on his plate while he speaks.
"Wow, really? Aren't you guys supposed to be like, saving the world? And you need to play basketball in order to do that?"
"Team sports teach really valuable life lessons, actually," Hikaru says, tired of letting Luka defend his education on his own. Daniel never directs any of these passive aggressive criticisms to Hikaru or Pavel; they're war heroes and he's terrified of them, wilting every time they look at him directly.
"Just ignore Danny," Johnny says. He's slumped at the end of the table, reading his PADD, which is on the table beside his plate. "He's only bitter about Starfleet 'cause Dad went there."
"Johnny," Meiko says sharply, and everyone sits up a little straighter, except Johnny, of course. Hikaru presses his lips together; he'd been wondering when this would come up. Meiko seems bent on ignoring the fact that her husband ran off with someone else and that her daughter won't even come home for the holidays because she blames Meiko, who is just as career-focused as Hikaru.
"That's not --" Daniel starts to say, but then he just blushes furiously. There's a stretch of silence after that, and Hikaru almost groans openly at Pavel, who is busy eating his dinner as if he hasn't heard any of this. Pavel was raised mostly by his grandparents, who were completely silent at meals, and he's always able and happy to ignore dinner conversation until Hikaru brings it to his attention by slapping his shoulder.
"I really love your house, Meiko," Katie says. She smiles and dabs at her mouth with her napkin. "And this food is great."
"Yeah, really tasty," Luka says. He looks at Katie gratefully for the change of subject.
"Well, you kids helped." Meiko tucks her hair behind her ears self-consciously. Johnny is looking up from his PADD now, his hand curled over his mouth as he stares at his mom. Daniel is pouting down at his plate, pushing potatoes around with his fork. Hikaru somehow didn't realize that things were this bad, but of course they are; it's so easy to feel removed from his family when he's in space. His parents both died while he was off-planet, within three months of each other, and Hikaru couldn't really let the loss touch him until he was behind the door of his quarters, crying into his pillow with Pavel curled around him. Hikaru's parents would have been proud about how professionally he behaved during his shifts, taking only one personal day to grieve, but he hated how distant he felt from the day to day loss of them, so wrapped up in his career and his own life that he didn't call or write often. He hopes that things will never become that way with Luka. Maybe they can all serve on the same ship, though that would be hard, seeing Luka get sent on dangerous missions and trying to stay cool under fire with not only Pavel there beside him but their son, too.
After dinner, everyone convenes to the living room for a game of Scrabble, and as much as Hikaru loves wiping the floor with Pavel with his unfair advantage, he takes Meiko's hint and doesn't join in, instead following Johnny upstairs.
"Wait up," he says when they're on the landing between the first and second floors. Johnny turns back, and Hikaru has a weird sense of something like deja vu, because while Johnny is far more polished and less pimply than Hikaru was as a teenager, he does feel a bit like he's staring back into his own face, or into the face he once had, anyway. Johnny has a gravity in his eyes that Hikaru always hated in himself because he thought it made him look weak, but on Johnny it just looks like the kind of thing girls go crazy for, an edgy vulnerability.
"Want to hang out?" Hikaru asks, feeling stupid. "I, uh. Haven't really had a chance to talk with you since I got back."
Johnny shrugs, and Hikaru expects him to slink away without apology like he did in the kitchen earlier, but when he gets to the door of his room he holds it open for Hikaru.
"It's okay," Johnny says as soon as Hikaru sits down on his unmade bed. "I mean, about my dad." Johnny shuts the door of his room and walks over to his dresser. "You don't have to, like, hash it out with me. He left. I'm not a kid anymore. I just feel sorry for my mom. I shouldn't have said that, at dinner. Danny just makes me want to fucking scream when he starts getting like that about school. Here."
He unceremoniously hands Hikaru a hand-rolled cigarette. It smells like blanch bark, an expensive import from Viktus-8 that has become a popular recreational drug on Earth. Hikaru tried it once with Pavel during shore leave and ended up sleeping for almost three days, having all sorts of intense dreams about desperately seeking water, or lemonade, or anything liquid that he could pour down his bone-dry throat.
"Meiko will be pissed if I smoke this with you," Hikaru says. He would actually like something to take the edge off, but doesn't want another three day coma.
"She's my mom, not yours," Johnny says with a smirk. He takes the cigarette from Hikaru and lights it, taking a long hit before handing it back. "This stuff is pretty mild, anyway, it'll just put you in a forgiving mood."
"You're looking to get into a forgiving mood yourself?" Hikaru takes a drag, trying not to embarrass himself by coughing. War hero or not, he's still a nerd and Johnny is still effortlessly cool. Johnny slumps onto the bed beside Hikaru and leans back, folding an arm behind his head.
"Honestly, Hikaru, I'm kind of freaked out right now," he says.
"Oh yeah? Why?" Hikaru can feel the bark fuzzing his thought process already.
"You know that girl downstairs?"
"What -- Katie?"
"Yeah." Johnny takes the cigarette back and inhales deeply. "I ran into her last night, when I came home. She was sitting on the front porch crying her fucking eyes out."
"Oh, God. She's -- things are complicated between her and Luka."
"Yeah, I guess. We talked and shit. Then we kinda made out. I feel bad."
Hikaru snorts with laughter. "You're kidding," he says. Johnny just smirks, and Hikaru knows he's serious.
"I thought you'd be mad," Johnny says. "On behalf of Luka and all."
"Luka is cheating on her, too," Hikaru says. He takes the cigarette back, beginning to enjoy this floaty feeling. "Just -- I hope she wasn't using you to get back at him."
"I don't care if she is," Johnny says. "She's fucking hot, dude."
"Don't call me dude. And don't say fucking. And don't call Katie Chapel hot."
Hikaru and Johnny laugh pretty hard then, the smoke starting to really billow around them, its smell suddenly the best thing Hikaru has ever inhaled short of having his nose buried in Pavel's curls.
"Also," Johnny says. He takes another drag. "I don't think she was just trying to piss Luka off. We talked pretty much all night. The making out part was kind of minimal. Which was weird, I mean, I didn't mind that."
"Well. I don't know what to tell you. She lives in space, my man."
Johnny snorts and passes the cigarette back, shaking his head.
"Never call anyone 'my man,'" he says. "Also, she's eighteen, she can live wherever she wants."
"Jesus, you two planning to move in together?"
Johnny laughs. "No. Just, I don't know. Like I said, I'm kind of freaking out. It was a good fucking talk."
Hikaru grins and leans back, his arm folded behind his head and his thoughts wafting around pleasantly inside his skull, loose and tinged with light. He thinks about the talks he had with Pavel during that week they spent together on the mostly empty campus. Fuck, they talked about everything, up until sunrise, yawning, fighting sleep, asking each other Are you still awake? in the dark of Hikaru's dorm room, across the space between the twin beds. They didn't even kiss until almost a year later, when they'd both seen enough of the verge of death to finally buck their nervousness.
"She's about to be available if you want to pursue that line of thinking," Hikaru says. "Hey, are you okay, by the way? Your mom is really worried about you."
"Why, because I'm not dissecting mice in some genetics lab so that assholes can pick their child's eye color more efficiently?"
Hikaru laughs, and knows in the moment that Meiko doesn't need to worry. Johnny is going to be fine. He shuts his eyes and pictures Johnny's wedding to Katie, Luka making a joking toast. Hikaru is too out of it to imagine what sort of joke he'd make exactly, but it would be pretty hilarious, he thinks.
"Everything is going to be okay," he says, and Johnny laughs.
"You're a dork," he says, giving Hikaru's shoulder an affectionate punch. "I'm glad you came for Christmas."
Hikaru stumbles into the guest room an hour or so later, after having a long talk with Johnny about fencing and playing the drums, wherein they somehow decided that these two things were eerily similar. Hikaru figured it was his cue to leave when Katie showed up at the door and blushed fiercely when she saw Hikaru inside, muttering an excuse about thinking Johnny's door was the bathroom before she hurried off.
When Hikaru hits the bed he's out like his engines have been cut, and he wakes up to the sound of Pavel crashing around in the bathroom, cursing when something that sounds like a plastic cup clatters to the floor.
"Are you drunk?" Hikaru mumbles, his words half-obscured by the mattress.
"Nyet!" The default to Russian almost guarantees that he is. "I am -- Hikaru, where is my toothbrush?"
"Oh my God, Pavel, remember that one time when I put toothpaste on your toothbrush for you? Jesus Christ. I love you."
"Hikaru!" Pavel laughs. "You are drunk! What have you been doing all night?"
"Nothing, nothing, I just had this great talk with Johnny, man, that kid is amazing, I'm serious, he's gonna go places."
"Hmm, I see." Pavel sits down on the bed and leans onto Hikaru's back. "What is this smell? Were you smoking something?"
"Pavel, I've been thinking."
"Hikaru --"
"What if we taught at the Academy until Luka finishes? I'm not talking about retiring, just serving on Earth for a few years. I think Meiko needs me, and maybe Johnny and Danny do, too. And I hate being away from Luka. And you could replace Baxter after Meghan and Luka get him canned!"
"I -- Hikaru -- that is actually -- hmm. But you are so very high right now, how can I take you seriously?"
"I might be high but I am seeing so clearly, Pavel, for real. I feel like I could invent portable transport technology by morning. Seriously, get me a notebook and a pencil."
"Hikaru, you are half-asleep." Pavel kisses him behind his ear. "Are you serious about the Academy? Teaching for the years that Luka is here? You would not miss flying?"
"Of course I'd miss flying, but I miss Luka more than I could ever miss that, and it's not like I'd never fly the ship again. We'd go back after he graduated. Plus, I could get him first place in that fencing competition next semester, if I could, you know, get him on a proper training schedule."
"Oh, that is the priority, Hikaru?"
"Well, it's one priority."
Pavel sighs deeply and Hikaru loves that feeling so much, Pavel stretched out on top of him, Pavel's breath pushing against Hikaru's back. He feels so perfectly at peace that his eyes water.
"Then I will talk to Kirk," Pavel says. "After we discuss this more soberly in the morning."
"We might not be the only ones who don't want to go back."
"What do you mean, Katie? She doesn't seem so upset, it is strange. I do not think she would try to stay here for Luka."
"Not for Luka, for Johnny. Apparently they had a moment last night."
"What sort of moment?"
"A romantic one. She's probably sneaking into his room right now."
"Ah! How funny! So everything works out, yes?"
"Everything works out," Hikaru says, and as the bark-induced sleep finally pulls him under, nothing has ever felt more true.
//
the end.
I will post another one tomorrow, then one on Christmas Eve, then one on Christmas!! They will all be sequels to previous fics.
Title: Winter Break
Fandom: Star Trek
Pairing: Sulu/Chekov
Rating: R
Word Count: ~9,000
Summary: Sulu and Chekov go to Earth to visit their son during his winter break at the Academy. Sequel to Between the Bars.
Hikaru can hardly sit still in the shuttle as they head from the transport station to Earth. Pavel is beside him, looking kind of hilarious in a gray sweater and corduroy pants; Hikaru can't remember the last time he saw Pavel in anything other than a uniform or his underwear. He's staring out the window of the shuttle with a look of intense concentration on his face, his lap loaded down with bags full of gifts he's collected from alien planets and space stations over the past year and a half. Hikaru can't believe it's been that long since they've seen their son, but they've got work and Luka has his studies at the Academy, and this is what life is like when your children are grown, he supposes. He knows that Pavel is trying very hard not to get emotional. It's lucky, actually, that Katie Chapel is here, so that Pavel can pour all of his emotional energy into being extremely irritated that Kirk allowed her to come with them.
"I can't believe we'll be there in just a few hours," Katie says, sniffling and wiping at her eyes with a tissue. Katie, of course, has no qualms about breaking down in front of Hikaru and Pavel. Katie and Luka have maintained a long distance relationship, communicating in the same way that Luka has communicated with Hikaru and Pavel, via PADD messages and video chats. Hikaru thought that their relationship was cooling off based on his chats with Luka, but apparently it's still strong enough to warrant a trip to Earth. Pavel is not happy about this arrangement; he wanted this to be a family-only trip. Luka is on his winter break and they're going to celebrate Christmas at Hikaru's sister's house in San Francisco.
"It's exciting," Hikaru agrees when Pavel says nothing. He wishes Pavel wouldn't make this so damn uncomfortable, but it's been no secret that he doesn't like Katie ever since she and Luka were caught sleeping together when Luka was only fifteen.
When the shuttle finally docks at the station just outside of town, they decide the transports are too crowded and instead pile into an old-fashioned taxi cab. It's just three days before Christmas and everyone is transporting somewhere, most of them overloaded with gifts. Hikaru puts the window in the cab down and breathes in the familiar air of his hometown, smiling out at the city. He reaches over to put his hand on Pavel's knee and gives it a squeeze. Pavel smiles at him tightly; he seems almost nervous. Hikaru is, too, in a strange way. Though they see him regularly on video chats, he knows Luka will have changed a lot after his first year at the Academy.
"Oh, God," Katie says, her eyes getting wet as the Academy comes into view. "This is so - I'm freaking out."
Pavel groans a little under his breath and Hikaru elbows him.
"Luka's going to be so happy to see all of us," Hikaru says, giving Pavel a look. He knows that Pavel will want to tear Katie away if she runs up to hug Luka first.
"This traffic is so bad, Hikaru," Pavel says. The shake in his voice is subtle enough that only Hikaru would ever notice it. He reaches over to take Pavel's hand and gives it a squeeze. It's been so hard for them, the first year away from Luka; no amount of video chats can equal the reassurance they feel when they hug him or spend the whole day with him on a space station, answering his endless questions about why things are done a certain way in this or that alien culture. He's talked about majoring in Exoanthropology, which Pavel is of course horrified about, though he's kept this opinion mostly to himself. With Luka so far away, they haven't been bickering like they used to, and Hikaru knows they both miss it, the closeness that prevents them from censoring any opinion or remark.
They arrive at the Academy and walk to Luka's dorm, Katie blowing her nose into a tissue and Pavel looking grave, hugging the bags full of gifts to his chest. Hikaru shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket and looks around; he's got such good memories here, and the place looks mostly the same as it did when he was a student, save for a few upgrades. It's nearly empty, most of the students away for the break, and it makes Hikaru feel peaceful, remembering the way things would get quiet after all the stress and frenzy of final exams.
When they reach Luka's room Katie and Pavel both hang back as if they're afraid of the joy they'll experience at finally seeing him again, so it's Hikaru who steps forward to knock. Just the clatter of footsteps behind the door makes his heart feel heavy and his eyes water, and when Luka pulls open the door Hikaru realizes that it's him who Pavel will want to pummel, because he's the first one who throws his arms around Luka's shoulders.
"Dad!" Luka says, laughing happily against Hikaru's shoulder and hugging him hard. Hikaru knows that Pavel and Katie are both eager to put their arms around him and that he shouldn't hang on for too long, but he's thinking of that day in the church on Antearch, when Luka reached for him as if they'd never been apart, and, God, he doesn't want to let him go.
Luka's eyes are wet when Hikaru pulls back, so Hikaru doesn't feel too embarrassed by his own tears. He kisses Luka's forehead before releasing him, and Katie hurries forward with a little yelp, jumping onto Luka and making him take a few steps backward with the force of her embrace. Luka laughs, a little differently, Hikaru thinks, maybe nervous. He's looking at Pavel over Katie's shoulder, smiling, tears running down his cheeks. Hikaru takes the bags from Pavel's hands.
"God, I missed you!" Katie is weeping openly, wiping at her nose. Luka smiles at her, gives her shoulders a squeeze, then moves toward Pavel, whose lip is quivering as he steps forward.
"Papa," Luka says, a sob swallowing up most of the word as Pavel pulls him into his arms. Hikaru wipes at his eyes as he watches Pavel rock Luka in his arms, his hand stroking down the back of Luka's head. Luka was all alone when Pavel found him, and what they went through together on the planet where Luka's biological parents were killed bonded them in a way that almost destroyed Pavel when he had to give Luka up. Pavel is whispering something in Russian, and Hikaru has heard this enough times to translate: my baby, my baby.
"Jesus," Luka says, leaning back to wipe at his eyes. He laughs, and Hikaru knows he must be embarrassed, and suddenly wishes very much that Katie wasn't here so that he wouldn't have to be. "I - come in, okay?"
"Da, da," Pavel says. They walk into Luka's small dorm room, everybody trying to regain their composure, Pavel with his hand on Luka's back. Hikaru expected Luka to glue himself to Katie the way Pavel used to glue himself to Hikaru when he was a teenager in love, all other commitments be damned, but Luka seems more interested in showing his parents the things he's amassed in his room over the past year and a half: books and art prints tacked to the wall with sticky gum, a geode he found on a hike with his friends, a scar on his side from the appendix he had to have removed during his second semester. Hikaru smiles to himself, thinking that not so much has changed, really: Luka was like this when he was little, running home from his classes on the Enterprise to show Hikaru and Pavel something he'd drawn, pointing out all the important elements to make sure they appreciated them.
"I'm so glad you're here," Luka says, beaming. "You guys - uh. Want a drink?"
"Yes," Hikaru says, just as Pavel says Da, and they look at each other and grin.
"Sure," Katie says. She's hovering at Luka's side, looking at him as if she's not sure she's allowed to touch him in the presence of his parents. Luka goes to the closet and comes out with a bottle of cheap-looking Scotch.
"I got this for your visit," he says, tearing off the wrapping around the cap. He's blushing, as if he wants to impress them, and Hikaru remembers this, the first time his parents came poking around his off-campus apartment; he cleaned all day and hoped that his mother would appreciate the candle he lit in the hall bathroom.
"We have many things for you, too," Pavel says, fussing with the bags full of gifts. "Maybe I should save some and wrap them for Christmas?" Pavel grew up without religion of any kind and he's never spent Christmas with Hikaru's family before; he seems a bit confused by the whole concept.
"Whatever you guys want to do," Luka says, smiling as he pours four glasses of scotch. "I got you some stuff, too. I'll save it for Christmas, though."
"This campus is so awesome," Katie says. "I can't wait to come here."
"Yeah." Luka hands her a glass of scotch. "It's been, like. The best year of my life."
Pavel beams at this news and Katie takes a deep drink of scotch, coughing a little. Luka hands Hikaru and Pavel their glasses.
"Well." Luka lifts his glass. "To - to all of you being here. I've missed you so much, God."
They click their glasses and drink. Hikaru wants to do nothing for the rest of the night but hold onto Luka, and his eyes burn when he remembers the nights when Luka would come to their bed, needing comfort after a nightmare. Hikaru had felt so complete when their son was curled between them, safe and warm. He misses the days when Luka was small enough to be carried, smiling proudly at the crew members they passed in the halls of the Enterprise, his little arms around Hikaru's neck.
"Should we get something to eat?" Hikaru asks.
"Maybe another glass first," Pavel says, holding his out. "This is very good."
It's not, actually, but Hikaru grins and accepts another glass, too, proud of Pavel for knowing that he should say so. Katie looks a little queasy but accepts a second glass as well.
"So I have to tell you about my Advanced Theoretical final, Pop," Luka says, sitting down next to Pavel on the bed that must be his, because those are the sheets that Hikaru helped Pavel put on it when they moved Luka into this room a year and a half ago.
"Oh? Was it difficult?"
Hikaru can hear the fear in Pavel's voice: what if his son isn't a brilliant physicist?
"No, it was totally easy, but there was this one question about quantum chromodynamics and my friend got up in the middle of the exam and told our professor that the model on the test wasn't balanced correctly and he flipped out, but it was unbalanced, probably just a typo, but of course he took it personally."
"Ah! Which was professor was this? Not Baxter?"
"Yes, Baxter, of course it was Baxter!"
Pavel laughs hard, his head tipping back. Hikaru smirks; Luka and Pavel are always going on about Baxter on their video calls, a professor who had hated Pavel when he was a student here because of incidents like this, corrections and back talk.
"There was practically a riot after that," Luka says. "The exam had to be rescheduled."
"Who is this friend of yours who walked up in front of everyone and corrected the old bastard?" Pavel asks. "I want to meet him."
"Oh - it's my friend Meghan, she's - you'll meet her."
Luka's cheeks go faintly pink and an uncomfortable silence settles over the room, Katie staring as if she's waiting to hear more. Hikaru looks down into his glass and clears his throat.
"Should we go eat?" Hikaru asks, and everyone hurries to agree that yes, they should.
They go to Luka's favorite restaurant, a pub near campus that has good pizza. Hikaru gets kind of drunk and laughs at all of Luka's stories about the school year, some that he's already heard. Luka seems so much more mature than he did when they dropped him off, and sturdier, not so skinny. Hikaru is sort of proud that he became a fencer and not a runner. He took third place in a school-wide tournament back in May, the highest-ranking freshman by far.
"Will you show me around tomorrow?" Katie asks, her chin practically on Luka's shoulder.
"Sure," Luka says, looking to Hikaru and Pavel. "Unless - Dad, did we have something planned with aunt Meiko and them?" He looks sort of hopeful.
"No," Hikaru says. "We can do a tour of the campus in the morning - it'll be fun."
Hikaru sees Katie's shoulders drop; she was clearly hoping that she'd get a private tour, maybe one that began and ended with Luka's dorm room bed. Luka seems relieved. When they go back to his dorm to say goodnight on the front steps after dinner, Katie seems to be waiting to be invited up, but Luka just kisses her on the forehead and tells her he'll see her tomorrow. She's silent on the way to Hikaru's sister's house.
"Luka doesn't seem as happy to see Katie as I thought he'd be," Hikaru says as he's unpacking his things into the drawers of his sister's guest room. Katie is in another guest room down the hall, and Hikaru feels bad for her; he wouldn't have objected to letting her stay in the dorm room with Luka.
"Well, what did I tell you?" Pavel says. He stretches out on the bed, smug in only his underwear, hands folded behind his head. "I knew he would lose interest as soon as he experienced the real world."
"Poor girl," Hikaru says. He pulls off his clothes and hangs them over the back of a chair.
"She will recover," Pavel says.
"I guess. Don't you remember what it was like to be in love when you were that age?"
"Yes." Pavel smiles sweetly as Hikaru lowers himself down over him in bed, reaching behind him to pull the blankets up over them. "I remember," Pavel says, his hands skimming over Hikaru's sides so softly that Hikaru shivers. "I would sit at the little desk in my room on the ship and be unable to concentrate, thinking about how perfect you were, how much I needed you, and I would feel so hopeless."
"Poor little Pavel," Hikaru says. He kisses Pavel's cheeks, then his lips, moaning into the wet heat of his mouth. Pavel has the most unbelievably adorable little tongue, rounded at the tip, and Hikaru still gets rock hard just from licking across it with the tip of his own.
"Yes, I was tortured by the thought of you," Pavel says, breathing a little harder now. "I would listen to music and every song was all about you, and how you were meant to be with me."
"Oh, God. I wanted you, too, and I felt so fucking guilty for it. You would come over to watch a movie with me and as soon as you were gone I'd stuff my face into the pillow while it still smelled like you -"
"Hikaru, oh -"
"And I'd jerk myself off and pretend you were lying underneath me like this, warm and soft and wide-open and mine, all mine."
Pavel groans, grinding up against Hikaru. "I am yours," he says, panting. "Hikaru, ah, I'm yours, take me."
Hikaru still feels like he did when Pavel was a teenager who cried as Hikaru opened him up for the first time, his mouth so wet under Hikaru's while he nodded and breathed deeply, learning how to be fucked. Hikaru groans at the memory, hoping everyone else in the house is fast asleep, because he's not sure he can be quiet. Pavel is shaking with need, holding himself open and rocking up against Hikaru's thrusts, tilting his hips so that he can have Hikaru deeper and deeper.
"You like that?" Hikaru whispers roughly in Pavel's ear. "That what you need?"
"Yes, da, oh, please -"
"Shh," Hikaru whispers, though he's the one making all the noise, fucking Pavel hard enough to knock the bed against the wall. Pavel is totally lost to it, flushed and open and completely surrendered, the way Hikaru likes him, a quivering mess of need beneath him.
"Can I let you come?" Hikaru asks, because he's getting close himself. "Can I, or are you going to scream my name if I do?"
"I - I - Hikaru, oh -"
"God, I wish I could let you, nothing better than hearing you sob it out so loud -"
"Hikaru, ahhh, please!"
"It feels good, doesn't it, screaming my name like that?"
"Uhh, yes -"
"Why - ah - why, because you're mine? 'Cause you know it? 'Cause you can feel it in your bones when you take my come?"
"Yes, yes, yes, Hikaru -"
Hikaru grins; Pavel would agree to anything in this state, his curls dark with sweat and his eyes sightless with lust, pupils so fat as he stares up at Hikaru, begging, Hikaru's hand moving too slow on his cock.
"You need to come?" Hikaru asks in a grunt. Hikaru does, badly, and he slows his thrusts to hold it back. Pavel sobs in complaint, nodding wildly.
"Yes, da, so much, please -"
"Gonna be quiet for me?"
"Mhmmmm, yes, please!"
Hikaru grabs Pavel's hips and tilts them up even further, Pavel's chin tucked to his chest as he groans in approval. Hikaru fucks him mercilessly against the place that makes it hardest for Pavel to keep quiet, and Pavel has to bite his hand as Hikaru squeezes his orgasm out of him, pumping Pavel's cock as he comes all over himself, wincing and crying at the inability to shout. Hikaru bites his tongue hard when he comes, tears stinging into his eyes at the pain, and it's worth it; in the moment he'd bite the tip right off if he had to, the pain throbbing sharply against the pleasure.
His muscles ache when he's through, reminding him that he's not as young as he used to be. Still, he feels like a teenager with Pavel's face pressed against his, both of them breathing hard as they recover, sweaty and sex-scented, smiling as if they've just gotten away with something, as if Hikaru will have to climb out the window before dawn or be caught by Pavel's parents.
"Do you think your sister heard us?" Pavel whispers. He's smiling like he kind of hopes she did; it's as if he's proud of the way Hikaru makes him fall apart, and Hikaru would be hard again at the thought if he were a younger man.
"I don't know," Hikaru says. "I just hope Katie didn't."
Pavel snorts and rolls over, pressing his back to Hikaru's damp chest. Hikaru curls around him, kissing his neck and breathing in the well-fucked smell of him.
"I'm so happy," Pavel says, his eyes closed on the pillow. "So proud of Luka. So glad we are here."
"Me too. But hey, should we let the kids go off together tomorrow morning? I think they need to talk."
"No! Hikaru! We are only here for two weeks, and he is ours, too!"
"Okay, okay." Hikaru sighs and tucks his face against Pavel's neck, ready for sleep and a little worried about how all of this is going to play out. Pavel might remember what it was like to long for someone as a teenager, but he never learned what it was like to get his heart broken as one, because Hikaru was so careful with it, wanting nothing more than to protect Pavel from that kind of pain forever.
*
In the morning, Hikaru and Pavel have sleepy, spooning sex before their shower, moaning out little laughs, because it's been a long time since they had the luxury of waking up late and taking their time in bed. By the time they get into the shower Pavel is in a hurry, eager to spend the day with Luka. Katie is impatient, too, waiting for them at the table when they come down for breakfast. Hikaru spends some time catching up with his sister, something he was too exhausted to do much of last night, and he thinks about spending the day with her and his nephews, but the idea of sending Pavel and Katie off together to see Luka isn't a brilliant one, so he joins them when they leave for the Academy.
"What a beautiful day!" Katie says as they're walking across campus toward Luka's dorm. She was born in space and this is only her third trip to Earth. Hikaru smiles in agreement, happy to be back on his home planet, even if the air is a good deal more polluted than some others he's been to.
"I wonder when Luka will get his grades for the semester," Pavel says. "You watch, Hikaru, I bet he did better in his physics class than in any of that xenoanthropology nonsense."
"It's not nonsense, Pavel, it's important to try and understand alien cultures. Hell, that's what you and I do more than anything, in the great scheme of things."
"Yes, and we did not need to waste time obtaining a degree in this basic skill in order to do it well!"
"But Luka loves studying alien cultures," Katie says, pouting in Pavel's direction. "Shouldn't you study what you love most?"
"He loves physics most, he just doesn't know it yet."
Hikaru snorts and covers his face with his hand. Luka has absolutely no interest in botany whatsoever, but Hikaru has never taken it personally. The fact that Luka loves fencing does ease the blow, though.
When they get to Luka's room they knock on the door expecting Luka to pop up to answer it just as he did last night, but instead there's a long pause, the noises of quiet scrambling coming from behind the door, and a few harsh whispers, as if he's not alone. Hikaru gives Pavel a panicked look over Katie's head; he really doesn't want to spend his Christmas comforting a sobbing teenage girl.
"Luke?" Katie calls through the door. Luka's request to go by this nickname only ever worked with her.
"Coming, just -" Luka pulls the door open and looks out at them with his eyes wide and his hair a mess, sticking up at odd angles. He laughs a little, his cheeks going from ghost white to deep pink. There's definitely someone else in the room behind him.
"I didn't know you'd be here this early," he says. "I was just - my friend is here, my physics tutor."
"Tutor!" Pavel scoffs. "You need no tutor."
"Yeah, Pop, sometimes I do," Luka says tightly, giving Pavel a look. Luka opens the door a bit wider and scratches at the back of his head as his parents and Katie peer into the room. Luka's physics tutor is, as Hikaru suspected, a rather beautiful girl. She must be part-Orion, because her skin is a very pale green and her hair is long and wavy, strawberry blond. She smiles at them meekly. Hikaru can feel the angry heat coming off of Katie like radiation. He hopes that she won't notice that Luka's physics tutor is wearing one of Luka's t-shirts over her tight jeans, a green one that Pavel bought for Luka on Minick-5, the cursive script of that planet's language tight across the girl's chest.
"Um," Luka says, to break the silence that has settled over the room. He winces. "Oh, sorry, um, this is Meghan, my friend - my tutor - and, Meg, this is my dad, Hikaru, and my pop, Pavel, and my - and - and - and Katie. From space."
Hikaru can see that Pavel is trying very hard not to grin evilly at this turn of events. Katie, meanwhile, has gone from boiling with rage to icy and frozen with shock, looking back and forth from Luka to Meghan. Hikaru sighs and steps forward to shake Meghan's hand.
"Nice to meet you," he says. "I hear you caused a riot during the physics final."
"Oh!" She laughs self-consciously. "I was just - just trying to, you know. Be accurate."
"Yes, it was a fantastic story!" Pavel says, rushing forward to shake Meghan's hand enthusiastically. "I don't know if Luka has told you, but I had Baxter when I was a student here and he hated me very much! It is a shame that tenure protects substandard instructors like him, yes?"
"Oh, absolutely. Luka and I were talking about writing to the dean about him, but I don't know, I feel bad, ruining someone's career -"
"I told her," Luka says, popping up over her shoulder. "The guy has enjoyed this long career of mediocrity already and he'd basically just be forced into retirement, it wouldn't be that big of a deal."
"Tell me, are you Orion?" Pavel asks, putting his hand on Meghan's shoulder.
"Pop!" Luka says, and Hikaru groans inwardly.
"It's okay," Meghan says. "I'm not ashamed of it. My mother is, yeah. Dad's from Earth."
"Ah!" Pavel grins. "My best friend at the Academy was Orion! We were both very lonely, the other girls did not like her because she drew the boys away from them, and nobody liked me because I started at the Academy when I was very young. Her - qualities - had no affect on me because I was not attracted to women, so we could just be friends. She died on the Farragut, I still miss her all the time."
"Okay, Pop," Luka says, reaching over to slide Pavel's hand from Meghan's shoulder. "Now that she knows your life story, maybe she can get on with her day."
"She should come with us!" Pavel says, and Hikaru barely stops himself from slapping his hand over his face. Like most geniuses Hikaru has met, Pavel can be very oblivious to the emotions of people around him, and poor Katie is stiff with anguish, still standing near the door.
"Oh, that's okay, but thank you for the invitation." Meghan smiles at Pavel and gives Luka a quick, nervous glance. "I should go."
"Yeah, okay." Luka is staring at her sadly. "But - ah." He looks over at Katie and stops himself from encouraging Meghan to come. "Okay."
After Meghan has gone, Hikaru gives Luka a long look, and Luka widens his eyes just a bit as if to ask him to leave it alone. Pavel is oblivious, grinning to himself, hands on his hips.
"I admire these Orion students so much," he says. "They have so many things working against them, and people take such a bad attitude toward them - I can just imagine Baxter's reaction to not only a student but an Orion correcting him! Ha! Fantastic."
"It was pretty great," Luka says. He smiles wistfully for a moment, then comes back to himself, turning to look at Katie. She's got her arms folded over her chest, her lips pressed together. "Ready to check out the campus?" Luka asks. Katie nods wearily and walks over to take Luka's hand.
"Tell me," Pavel says as they leave the building. "Your friend Meghan - is she majoring in Physics?"
"Yes, Pop," Luka says. He gives Hikaru a desperate look and Hikaru sighs, taking hold of Pavel's arm.
"Anyway," Hikaru says, casting around desperately for a subject change. "It, uh. Sure is a beautiful day."
"Physics was my friend Gaila's major, also!" Pavel says. "Oh, Gaila. What a waste that was, so many of our classmates killed that day."
"Yes, we should visit the memorial," Hikaru says.
They do, and this sets a grim tone for the day, Pavel talking sadly about the time when they returned to the Academy after the conflict with Nero. Hikaru puts his arm around Pavel as they walk, remembering it. That was when he had begun to fall in love with Pavel. They had lunch together after the memorial service and Pavel told Hikaru all about Gaila. Hikaru had wanted to slide into the booth beside Pavel and gather him into his arms to comfort him. He kisses the side of Pavel's head now, squeezing him closer.
Hikaru doesn't get a moment alone with Luka until they're all back at his sister's house, Pavel speaking with Scotty on his communicator about some minor problem with the auxiliary warp panels on the Enterprise; he can never really leave his work behind, something Hikaru is glad for, because he's the same way. Katie is in the kitchen with Hikaru's sister, helping her begin to put dinner together, and Hikaru uses the opportunity to pull Luka out into the backyard for a chat.
"Dad," Luka says, giving him a look that tells Hikaru he's aware of what he's about to say. "I know. I know. Trust me, I didn't plan it this way."
"Well, what exactly was the plan, Luka? Bringing the poor girl all the way from space just so she can meet your new girlfriend in person?"
"She's not my new girlfriend! She's just a friend, and she's been really helping me with, like, talking about the whole long-distance relationship thing, and how it's been hard, and then last night she came over after you guys left and I was talking all about Katie and how things have changed and how hard it is because I used to love her so much -- and I still do, in a way, but it's different -- and I looked up and Meg was all teary-eyed and she said she didn't think she could stand to hear me talk about Katie anymore, and I asked her why, though I kind of knew, and she got up to leave and I grabbed her arm to stop her and, oh, God, Dad, we kissed, and it was like, like --"
"Jesus, slow down." Hikaru takes Luka's arm and drags him further from the sliding glass doors so that this won't be overheard. "So -- you're kidding me -- all of this started last night?"
"Well, it started before that, I mean I've always liked Meg, but I thought it was just the like, pull of the Orions or whatever? But I noticed that she didn't have other guys hanging all over her all the time and she told me that the crazy pheromone thing is a sex-linked genetic trait and that she didn't inherit it from her mom and so then I had to like, deal with the fact that I'd been, you know, fantasizing about my friend all this time and I had no excuse --"
"Okay, wait." Hikaru doesn't really need to hear about his son's fantasies; Luka takes after Pavel in the chronic over-sharing department. "So -- you have real feelings for this girl?"
"Yes! Well, I've been confused, but last night -- oh, man --"
"Okay, okay --"
"And also, Dad, after Meg and I had been friends for about a year, I told her about how Pop found me and everything, and how you guys had to give me up for awhile, and how hard it was, and Dad she started crying, and then I started crying, and I was so embarrassed but also kind of not, you know? And we hugged, and it was like she was the first person I'd ever really talked about it with. When I told Katie, we were younger and stuff, but she just gasped a lot." Luka shrugs. He looks kind of devastated, and Hikaru pats his back, sighing.
"I don't want to hurt Katie," Luka says. "I know I'm being a coward. I wanted to talk about our relationship in person once she got here, then all that stuff happened with Meg last night, then you guys were just suddenly, like, there."
"Yeah. Sorry about that. But -- oh, God, I don't know what to tell you. She's going to be really hurt, but I guess you just have to get it over with. Don't tell her about Meg."
"Dad, I think she knows about Meg! She's not stupid."
"Then why is she just -- why didn't she explode and scream at you in the dorm room?" It's what Pavel would have done. Pavel and Hikaru have had some epic, vicious fights in their time, but thankfully those days seem to be behind them.
"That's just how Katie is," Luka says, groaning. "It's part of the reason I don't feel that close to her anymore. She kind of shuts down, or doesn't want to deal with her emotions, and, fuck, you and Pop raised me to, like, confront that shit, you know?"
"God, since when is every other word out of your mouth a curse?" Hikaru asks, more bothered by this than he would have expected to be. Luka grins.
"Um, this is only surprising to you because you don't speak Russian. Me and Pop have always been kind of colorful with each other."
"Jesus, I should have guessed. Anyway, just -- tell her tonight, okay? Get it over with."
Luka groans and rubs his hand over his face. He seems very young again, suddenly, and Hikaru has to fight the urge to ruffle his hair.
"I'm so glad you and Pop are here," Luka says, surging forward suddenly to give Hikaru a quick hug.
"Me, too," Hikaru says. He pinches Luka's cheek when he pulls back to smile at him. "I wish we could teleport back here every night to have dinner with you."
"You'll be able to when they invent better transport technology."
"Yeah, I'll tell your Pop and Scotty to get on that."
They start to walk inside, and Hikaru takes Luka's arm before he can reach for the door handle.
"Hey, um." He rubs the back of his neck, wishing he could be fearless with this subject the way that Pavel is. "Last night, with Meg -- you did remember to, um, use something, right?"
Luka rolls his eyes. "Yeah, Dad, I'm not stupid."
"Well, I don't know! In the heat of the moment -- things can happen." Hikaru is blushing so badly that he hurries into the house, embarrassed and swatting at Luka when he snickers. He goes into the dining room, where Pavel is pacing around and talking with Scotty, saying something about cleaning the copper residue off the secondary warp chamber. Hikaru wraps his arms around Pavel's shoulders and leans against him, kissing the back of his head. Pavel puts his hand over Hikaru's folded arms and continues his conversation, settling into his embrace.
"Well, just try it!" Pavel says, and flips his communicator shut, cursing under his breath. "Stubborn old man," he says, pushing the communicator back into his pocket.
"Did you teach our son Russian curse words?" Hikaru asks, licking Pavel's ear into his mouth until Pavel laughs.
"Not intentionally," Pavel says. "You know I have no filter."
"I do know that. Listen, I just talked to Luka. I think he's in love with that girl."
"It is lust and boredom only, Hikaru, how many times do I have to tell you?"
"Not Katie, Meg, the girl in his dorm room."
"Oh!" Pavel turns in Hikaru's arms, beaming.
"Yeah, I thought you'd like that."
"Well, I found her very charming! What did he say, exactly? Oh -- how is he going to let this other one down?"
"'This other one?' Pavel, you've known Katie Chapel since she was a baby. You're being really cruel."
"No -- I -- it was a mistranslation, the wrong English. I do feel badly for the girl, I knew this day would come. She must know she will never find another like Luka!"
"Quit looking so gleeful. She's gonna be here with us for the next two weeks! We'll have to be on suicide watch."
"Hikaru, you are being melodramatic. These are children, they could not have expected to stay together forever."
"You were younger than Katie when I -- when you --"
"When I fell in love with you?" Pavel kisses Hikaru's nose. "This is true, but I was a genius, she is not."
"Being a genius doesn't make you any better at this kind of stuff. You just got lucky with me, 'cause I was your willing slave from day one."
Pavel's face changes, his smile softening. He moans a little and presses his face to Hikaru's neck.
"I know that I am lucky, Hikaru."
"Yeah, well. Luka's pretty upset. He really doesn't want to hurt Katie, he cares about her. I think after all this time apart he sees her as someone small and young who he needs to protect. I know what that's like. Fortunately for all of us I was in love with the person I felt so protective of."
"Are we still talking about me?"
"Yes, Pavel."
Pavel sighs and leans back, gazing up at Hikaru with a dopey little grin.
"Luka is such a good person," Pavel says. "Better than me. Thank you for teaching our son this, how to not want to hurt someone."
"You're not exactly the Marquis de Sade," Hikaru says. He hugs Pavel to him, again remembering that week after the memorial service for those killed by Nero, the eerie quiet of the campus, Pavel asleep in Hikaru's dead roommate's old bed, keeping him company, needing to wake up and know that someone was there, his own room similarly half-empty following the attack. Hikaru had wanted to carry Pavel everywhere, to thank him again and again for being one of the cadets who was spared. He caught himself putting toothpaste on Pavel's toothbrush for him one night before they retired to their separate beds and blushed so hard he was afraid he'd have sunburn in the morning. Pavel just smiled to himself, pretending that it wasn't the weirdest thing anyone had ever done. He's always taken care of Hikaru, too.
They go into the kitchen, where Katie and Luka are laughing over a bowl of stuffing that Meiko has instructed them to mix, two spoons pounding at the contents. For a moment the scene seems perfectly cheerful, as if Luka and Katie are brother and sister, but when the back door opens suddenly they both jump, betraying their anxiety.
"Hey," Hikaru's nephew mutters, slamming the door behind him. Johnny is Meiko's middle son, nineteen years old and so far doing nothing with his life except playing the drums in his friend's band. Hikaru tries to tell Meiko not to worry about him too much, that he's still young enough to be allowed to find himself, but Hikaru and his sisters were never allowed that luxury, and Meiko is already panicking about Johnny.
"Where have you been all day?" Meiko asks as Johnny goes for the fridge. He opens it and stares into it, his expression grave, as if he's confronting the abyss. "And did you even notice that your cousin is here?"
Johnny looks over his shoulder at Luka, a guilty expression crossing his face. He's handsome, his hair spiked with gel, way cooler than Hikaru was at his age. Hikaru only put gel in his hair to slick it back for science club group portraits.
"Hey, Luka," Johnny mutters before turning back to the fridge.
"Hey," Luka says. "Are you gonna stay for dinner? Did you meet my girlfriend?"
In the presence of Johnny, suddenly Katie is Luka's girlfriend again. Johnny looks over his shoulder, giving Katie a quick, almost timid glance.
"Yeah," he says. "I mean, no." And then he walks out of the room.
"That kid," Meiko mutters. "Sorry he was so rude to you, Katie. He's a little -- well."
"That's okay." Katie blushes and starts pounding at the stuffing again.
"Has Johnny given any thought to coming to the Academy?" Luka asks. Meiko snorts.
"Are you kidding? Then he'd have to recognize an authority figure of some kind. Hikaru." She looks at her brother pleadingly. "Do you think you could talk to him while you're here? Ever since his dad left -- well."
"Uh." Like Hikaru doesn't have enough emotionally unbalanced teenagers to deal with. "Sure."
For dinner it's just the six of them and Meiko's youngest son, Daniel, who monopolizes most of the conversation with bragging questions directed at Luka. Daniel is at MIT doing genetics research, and he seems to think that serving in Starfleet is rather quaint. Hikaru is beginning to get fed up with the kid himself, and admires Luka for his patient, monotone answers.
"Do they actually make you guys participate in recreational sports?" Daniel asks with a little scoff.
"It's required, yeah, you have to take a phys ed credit." Luka's eyes are on his plate while he speaks.
"Wow, really? Aren't you guys supposed to be like, saving the world? And you need to play basketball in order to do that?"
"Team sports teach really valuable life lessons, actually," Hikaru says, tired of letting Luka defend his education on his own. Daniel never directs any of these passive aggressive criticisms to Hikaru or Pavel; they're war heroes and he's terrified of them, wilting every time they look at him directly.
"Just ignore Danny," Johnny says. He's slumped at the end of the table, reading his PADD, which is on the table beside his plate. "He's only bitter about Starfleet 'cause Dad went there."
"Johnny," Meiko says sharply, and everyone sits up a little straighter, except Johnny, of course. Hikaru presses his lips together; he'd been wondering when this would come up. Meiko seems bent on ignoring the fact that her husband ran off with someone else and that her daughter won't even come home for the holidays because she blames Meiko, who is just as career-focused as Hikaru.
"That's not --" Daniel starts to say, but then he just blushes furiously. There's a stretch of silence after that, and Hikaru almost groans openly at Pavel, who is busy eating his dinner as if he hasn't heard any of this. Pavel was raised mostly by his grandparents, who were completely silent at meals, and he's always able and happy to ignore dinner conversation until Hikaru brings it to his attention by slapping his shoulder.
"I really love your house, Meiko," Katie says. She smiles and dabs at her mouth with her napkin. "And this food is great."
"Yeah, really tasty," Luka says. He looks at Katie gratefully for the change of subject.
"Well, you kids helped." Meiko tucks her hair behind her ears self-consciously. Johnny is looking up from his PADD now, his hand curled over his mouth as he stares at his mom. Daniel is pouting down at his plate, pushing potatoes around with his fork. Hikaru somehow didn't realize that things were this bad, but of course they are; it's so easy to feel removed from his family when he's in space. His parents both died while he was off-planet, within three months of each other, and Hikaru couldn't really let the loss touch him until he was behind the door of his quarters, crying into his pillow with Pavel curled around him. Hikaru's parents would have been proud about how professionally he behaved during his shifts, taking only one personal day to grieve, but he hated how distant he felt from the day to day loss of them, so wrapped up in his career and his own life that he didn't call or write often. He hopes that things will never become that way with Luka. Maybe they can all serve on the same ship, though that would be hard, seeing Luka get sent on dangerous missions and trying to stay cool under fire with not only Pavel there beside him but their son, too.
After dinner, everyone convenes to the living room for a game of Scrabble, and as much as Hikaru loves wiping the floor with Pavel with his unfair advantage, he takes Meiko's hint and doesn't join in, instead following Johnny upstairs.
"Wait up," he says when they're on the landing between the first and second floors. Johnny turns back, and Hikaru has a weird sense of something like deja vu, because while Johnny is far more polished and less pimply than Hikaru was as a teenager, he does feel a bit like he's staring back into his own face, or into the face he once had, anyway. Johnny has a gravity in his eyes that Hikaru always hated in himself because he thought it made him look weak, but on Johnny it just looks like the kind of thing girls go crazy for, an edgy vulnerability.
"Want to hang out?" Hikaru asks, feeling stupid. "I, uh. Haven't really had a chance to talk with you since I got back."
Johnny shrugs, and Hikaru expects him to slink away without apology like he did in the kitchen earlier, but when he gets to the door of his room he holds it open for Hikaru.
"It's okay," Johnny says as soon as Hikaru sits down on his unmade bed. "I mean, about my dad." Johnny shuts the door of his room and walks over to his dresser. "You don't have to, like, hash it out with me. He left. I'm not a kid anymore. I just feel sorry for my mom. I shouldn't have said that, at dinner. Danny just makes me want to fucking scream when he starts getting like that about school. Here."
He unceremoniously hands Hikaru a hand-rolled cigarette. It smells like blanch bark, an expensive import from Viktus-8 that has become a popular recreational drug on Earth. Hikaru tried it once with Pavel during shore leave and ended up sleeping for almost three days, having all sorts of intense dreams about desperately seeking water, or lemonade, or anything liquid that he could pour down his bone-dry throat.
"Meiko will be pissed if I smoke this with you," Hikaru says. He would actually like something to take the edge off, but doesn't want another three day coma.
"She's my mom, not yours," Johnny says with a smirk. He takes the cigarette from Hikaru and lights it, taking a long hit before handing it back. "This stuff is pretty mild, anyway, it'll just put you in a forgiving mood."
"You're looking to get into a forgiving mood yourself?" Hikaru takes a drag, trying not to embarrass himself by coughing. War hero or not, he's still a nerd and Johnny is still effortlessly cool. Johnny slumps onto the bed beside Hikaru and leans back, folding an arm behind his head.
"Honestly, Hikaru, I'm kind of freaked out right now," he says.
"Oh yeah? Why?" Hikaru can feel the bark fuzzing his thought process already.
"You know that girl downstairs?"
"What -- Katie?"
"Yeah." Johnny takes the cigarette back and inhales deeply. "I ran into her last night, when I came home. She was sitting on the front porch crying her fucking eyes out."
"Oh, God. She's -- things are complicated between her and Luka."
"Yeah, I guess. We talked and shit. Then we kinda made out. I feel bad."
Hikaru snorts with laughter. "You're kidding," he says. Johnny just smirks, and Hikaru knows he's serious.
"I thought you'd be mad," Johnny says. "On behalf of Luka and all."
"Luka is cheating on her, too," Hikaru says. He takes the cigarette back, beginning to enjoy this floaty feeling. "Just -- I hope she wasn't using you to get back at him."
"I don't care if she is," Johnny says. "She's fucking hot, dude."
"Don't call me dude. And don't say fucking. And don't call Katie Chapel hot."
Hikaru and Johnny laugh pretty hard then, the smoke starting to really billow around them, its smell suddenly the best thing Hikaru has ever inhaled short of having his nose buried in Pavel's curls.
"Also," Johnny says. He takes another drag. "I don't think she was just trying to piss Luka off. We talked pretty much all night. The making out part was kind of minimal. Which was weird, I mean, I didn't mind that."
"Well. I don't know what to tell you. She lives in space, my man."
Johnny snorts and passes the cigarette back, shaking his head.
"Never call anyone 'my man,'" he says. "Also, she's eighteen, she can live wherever she wants."
"Jesus, you two planning to move in together?"
Johnny laughs. "No. Just, I don't know. Like I said, I'm kind of freaking out. It was a good fucking talk."
Hikaru grins and leans back, his arm folded behind his head and his thoughts wafting around pleasantly inside his skull, loose and tinged with light. He thinks about the talks he had with Pavel during that week they spent together on the mostly empty campus. Fuck, they talked about everything, up until sunrise, yawning, fighting sleep, asking each other Are you still awake? in the dark of Hikaru's dorm room, across the space between the twin beds. They didn't even kiss until almost a year later, when they'd both seen enough of the verge of death to finally buck their nervousness.
"She's about to be available if you want to pursue that line of thinking," Hikaru says. "Hey, are you okay, by the way? Your mom is really worried about you."
"Why, because I'm not dissecting mice in some genetics lab so that assholes can pick their child's eye color more efficiently?"
Hikaru laughs, and knows in the moment that Meiko doesn't need to worry. Johnny is going to be fine. He shuts his eyes and pictures Johnny's wedding to Katie, Luka making a joking toast. Hikaru is too out of it to imagine what sort of joke he'd make exactly, but it would be pretty hilarious, he thinks.
"Everything is going to be okay," he says, and Johnny laughs.
"You're a dork," he says, giving Hikaru's shoulder an affectionate punch. "I'm glad you came for Christmas."
Hikaru stumbles into the guest room an hour or so later, after having a long talk with Johnny about fencing and playing the drums, wherein they somehow decided that these two things were eerily similar. Hikaru figured it was his cue to leave when Katie showed up at the door and blushed fiercely when she saw Hikaru inside, muttering an excuse about thinking Johnny's door was the bathroom before she hurried off.
When Hikaru hits the bed he's out like his engines have been cut, and he wakes up to the sound of Pavel crashing around in the bathroom, cursing when something that sounds like a plastic cup clatters to the floor.
"Are you drunk?" Hikaru mumbles, his words half-obscured by the mattress.
"Nyet!" The default to Russian almost guarantees that he is. "I am -- Hikaru, where is my toothbrush?"
"Oh my God, Pavel, remember that one time when I put toothpaste on your toothbrush for you? Jesus Christ. I love you."
"Hikaru!" Pavel laughs. "You are drunk! What have you been doing all night?"
"Nothing, nothing, I just had this great talk with Johnny, man, that kid is amazing, I'm serious, he's gonna go places."
"Hmm, I see." Pavel sits down on the bed and leans onto Hikaru's back. "What is this smell? Were you smoking something?"
"Pavel, I've been thinking."
"Hikaru --"
"What if we taught at the Academy until Luka finishes? I'm not talking about retiring, just serving on Earth for a few years. I think Meiko needs me, and maybe Johnny and Danny do, too. And I hate being away from Luka. And you could replace Baxter after Meghan and Luka get him canned!"
"I -- Hikaru -- that is actually -- hmm. But you are so very high right now, how can I take you seriously?"
"I might be high but I am seeing so clearly, Pavel, for real. I feel like I could invent portable transport technology by morning. Seriously, get me a notebook and a pencil."
"Hikaru, you are half-asleep." Pavel kisses him behind his ear. "Are you serious about the Academy? Teaching for the years that Luka is here? You would not miss flying?"
"Of course I'd miss flying, but I miss Luka more than I could ever miss that, and it's not like I'd never fly the ship again. We'd go back after he graduated. Plus, I could get him first place in that fencing competition next semester, if I could, you know, get him on a proper training schedule."
"Oh, that is the priority, Hikaru?"
"Well, it's one priority."
Pavel sighs deeply and Hikaru loves that feeling so much, Pavel stretched out on top of him, Pavel's breath pushing against Hikaru's back. He feels so perfectly at peace that his eyes water.
"Then I will talk to Kirk," Pavel says. "After we discuss this more soberly in the morning."
"We might not be the only ones who don't want to go back."
"What do you mean, Katie? She doesn't seem so upset, it is strange. I do not think she would try to stay here for Luka."
"Not for Luka, for Johnny. Apparently they had a moment last night."
"What sort of moment?"
"A romantic one. She's probably sneaking into his room right now."
"Ah! How funny! So everything works out, yes?"
"Everything works out," Hikaru says, and as the bark-induced sleep finally pulls him under, nothing has ever felt more true.
//
the end.