#trans chekov

He was gorgeous. Washed out blue shirt, pale cream shorts made out of a comfortable fabric. His skin was tanned from the sun of the summer that was just melting into autumn and his hair swept back, little bits springing up here and there, it was freshly wet, presumably from swimming.

"Hey, it's alright, I was just going for the same cactus," the stranger looked down at the spikes on Hikaru's finger.

"Yeah, they're always out of stock,"

The stranger nodded, still looking at Hikaru's fingers.

"Want me to get that for you?" He asked.

Sulu gulped as he nodded and shifted the weight of the pot into his other arm. He gave him his hand, watching his brow furrow slightly as he plucked the spikes out of his hand.

"I'm Hikaru, by the way,"

The stranger darted his head up and his eyes widened, "I'm Ben," he scratched his head. "Sorry, I started plucking those out of your hand before I even told you my name."

"It's fine," Hikaru picked up the cactus, handing one to Ben and taking one for himself.

They stood around for a second, not looking at each other but neither one wanting to leave.

Ben made the first leap.

"I'm headed for the checkouts, want me to walk you there?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks, that's really kind,"

Sulu gulped as Ben led the way. He watched his back, his broad shoulders moving as he walked.

Hikaru was definitely windswept.

~~~

"Pascha!" Hikaru ran into their dorm and slid down the wall, placing the two plants next to him. "I think I found my soulmate,"

Pavel turned around from his screen, he stood up from the chair and made his way over to him, "No you haven't."

"But you didn't see him, Pascha,"

"I don't believe in soulmates,"

He raised his hands into the air, "Okay, but he's-he's him, he's the one,"

Pavel raised an eyebrow and inched his arm toward him. He didn't know much about love, had never experienced a crush and was already starting to question that.

"I was buying these plants and reached for this cactus-" he lifted the Vulcan Cactus. "But I bumped into him and got a load of spikes in my hand and we both apologised and he pulled them out and his name is Ben,"

Hikaru's eyes sparkled at the thought of the man. His relaxed look, hair wet and a sloppy smile on his face. He looked warm. His tanned skin radiated sunlight, although he wasn't sure if his memory was skewing it.

"Did you get his COMM number?"

Hikaru shook his head.

"His surname? His job?"

He shook his head again.

"Do you have anything for me to go on?"

"Go on?" Hikaru said.

Pavel stood up and went back to his screen, "How else am I meant to find him for you?"

Hikaru got up onto wobbly legs, his palms were sweaty and his head drifted as he made his way to Pascha's desk. Thoughts of Ben, the cactus and the chance of meeting him again made it hard to focus on the things Pavel was saying. He might as well have been speaking Russian, even though he was picking up a few words from their time as roommates.

"We don't know if he's in Starfleet or if he even lives in San Francisco," Pavel turned to him. "Did he have an accent?"

"Erm, no,"

"Okay, so he's from the US or Canada," he typed something on his mechanical keyboard, it was a sound he was used to. "Now, are there any events on around here lately?"

He typed some more and shook his head, eventually turning to Hikaru, who was just as bewildered.

"I've never seen you like this," Pavel said.

"I've never felt like this," Hikaru replied.

Pavel placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. They had their differences, age being one of them, but they'd both been there when they needed each other most. Hikaru felt a strong sense of protection over the fifteen-year-old, even though he was only nineteen himself. Pavel was like his brother.

"I'll find him for you, don't worry,"

"Thanks," He smiled at him and patted the hand on his shoulder.

Hikaru stepped away to find a place for his plants, and think of names for them. Pavel went back to clicking and taking occasional sips of the electric blue drink to his right.

The heavenly thought of Ben, how his first instinct was to help him, his laugh and the way his eyes crinkled. He sighed as he pottered around the apartment. Hikaru hoped he'd see him again.

Does it kinda annoy everyone else that these pair are either barely mentioned or are a background ship at most? Also why are there so many child geniuses in Star Trek, at least the reboots. Because their birthdays were mostly kept the same from TOS to AOS but AOS takes place about 10 years earlier and all the characters are in the same positions. Sulu was born in 2237, so would've been 21 in Star Trek 2009, but he still has the same level of expertise as TOS Sulu. Why are all these characters either way older than everyone else in the Academy or child geniuses?! Also, you can kind of tell that Ben wasn't planned or even a character in the first two films because he and Sulu would probably have to have met, got married and got a kid in the space of maximum 3 or 4 years, all while Sulu was off having the adventures of the films and off-screen too! Can you tell that this has been bothering me for a while?

Anyway, everyone has different timelines for love, maybe after Nero there was a boom of marriages and babies born because the earth was so close to destruction that everyone though why not? and jumped commitments.