Angels (Pavel Chekov)

83 - Crazy

Vienna goes back to her own room to get changed before heading to Pavel's. She's humming a tune and looking forward to seeing him again. She comes into his room and finds everyone there, wishing her a happy birthday. She grins and thanks them, coming over to give Erik and Selwyn a hug. Hikaru already has a drink in his hand and Saxon is pouring one as well. They tell her she should do a birthday shot and she shakes her head, not interested in getting blinded before it's even dark outside.

Erik passes her a box and encourages her to open it. She does and she unwraps a pair of grey dance shoes.

"Did you make these??" she asks, picking one up and looking at it up close.

"I did, with some guidance. The first one I made fell apart but hopefully I got these ones right."

She tries it on, pointing and flexing her foot and giving an approving nod. She thanks Erik, putting the shoe carefully back in the box to use next time.

Pavel drinks at a slightly faster rate than usual and Vienna worries that he's trying to ease his nerves from class this morning. She sits next to him and he smiles at her, resting his head on her shoulder and telling her he loves her.

"Legal adulthood and you don't wanna go out drinking? You can go into bars and clubs now. No interest?" Erik asks.

"Not really. I don't even like drinking and I need to study this weekend. I'll get to a bar eventually. I'm in no rush though."

"Good," Pavel mutters, working through his third scotch. "I can't go in. I didn't want to wait here while everyone else went out drinking. For my next birthday you'll come to a bar, right Vienna? Promise?"

"I promise," she laughs.

They order a huge amount of Chinese food and eat together. Erik seems a little more distant than usual and Vienna decides to question it when there's less people around. Saxon goes home first, feeling a little sick from whatever he drank and everyone else keeps drinking.

"Thank you for having your birthday on a Friday," Hikaru says, shooting Vienna a smile.

"My pleasure."

Pavel is complaining about sobering up after the Chinese food and Selwyn offers him some of his liquor.

"Don't go for more than two drops or you'll be on the floor," Selwyn warns, passing it to Pavel. "Tonight's not the night to get completely blinded."

Pavel nods and only goes for two drops, which still kicks in after a few minutes. Pavel can feel the room spinning just a little and he decided not to mention how drunk he feels. Erik takes three drops of Selwyn's liquor. He smiles stupidly at the ceiling and mutters something in Russian. Pavel replies and Vienna wishes she understood.

Selwyn whispers something to Pavel and Erik and Vienna raises an eyebrow at them. Pavel joins her on the couch and Selwyn disappears into the kitchen. Pavel puts his hands over Vienna's eyes and she giggles, asking what he's doing. He giggles back, answering her in Russian instead of English and kissing her cheek messily.

Hikaru, Erik and Pavel start singing messily and Vienna laughs, telling Pavel to move his hands. He does, wrapping his arms around her waist. Selwyn places a cake on the table and Vienna looks to Selwyn in shock. There are five candles on the top and she closes her eyes, blowing them out.

"Did you make this Selwyn?"

"I did. It's customary for friends to make a dish for someone's birthday on Kelzenone. Erik suggested a cake. Apparently, that's the tradition here."

"It is. This is beautiful. How did you get the colours?"

"Luck. It's hard cooking with ingredients I haven't used before. I just followed a recipe so hopefully it tastes alright."

Vienna looks to the cake and grins. Her name is written in icing and she can't help but wonder just how long it took Selwyn to do. She cuts it and kisses Pavel on the cheek as her knife touches the bottom. Vienna thanks them, all of them. Her whole body feels light and they eat cake togther smiling.

Pavel stays by Vienna's side and kisses her cheek periodically. He's smiling at her stupidly and Erik watches the face that his brother makes at Vienna and wonders if he too was the same with Jezzie. Pavel's hand is sitting on her knee and he moves it upwards just a little, Vienna not noticing and continuing talking to Selwyn.

"Pavel," Erik says quietly. He looks up, confused. "Listen, you might want to find somewhere private." He's speaking in Russian, trying not to disturb Vienna and Selwyn. Pavel gets up to go to the bathroom and Erik sighs, his heart heavy.

"Have you ever tried eating bugs, Erik?" Vienna asks, pulling him into their conversation.

He looks up, a little dazed and nods. "I've eaten crickets, scorpions and beetles. They weren't actually all that bad."

Pavel comes and sits back down and reminds Erik of the other creature he once ate. Erik grins as he remembers. "That's right, I tried a spider once too."

"You're kidding. I can't believe it. You're crazy Erik."

Erik looks away and finishes his drink. Pavel mutters something to him in Russian and Vienna looks at the two of them.

"I... I'm sorry, Erik. I wasn't trying to upset you... Are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't think it was that mean or anything..."

"It's not that," Pavel says. "It's something else. It's okay, you didn't know."

Erik mutters something and disappears into the bathroom. Vienna looks to Pavel for an explanation and he puts his drink down, rubbing his face a little. "It was an inside joke between him and Jezzie. He gets quite funny about it. Don't worry. He'll just need a few minutes." 

(Author's Note)

So, somehow this chapter never got uploaded earlier and left a random hole in my story but it's here now at least and that's all that matters.