NAME: Throwing Aces
RATING: PG-13
FANDOM: Star Trek Reboot
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS: Pavel Chekov, Montgomery Scott, Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, James T. Kirk, Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Spock | asexual!Chekov/Scotty, Spock/Uhura
GENRES: Romance/Drama
SUMMARY: It seems the crew of the USS Enterprise expects Chekov to come into his own as a sexual human being. Chekov tells the only two people who really know him that he just can't be one. Asexual!Chekov.
PROMPT: 33: Expectations
WARNINGS: asexual!Chekov, confusing terms, talk of sex (or lack there of), homoromantic fluff. Uhura being generally awesome, Spock being really smart when it comes to sexuality (and non-sexuality).

"So?" Kirk asked of the younger officer.

Chekov blinked, looking up from his work as he tried to find a faster way to the planet they were to visit on their routine check. "What?" asked the adorable Russian ensign.

"Chekov, I've been with more than half of the female population, McCoy has had several girlfriends in college, med school, and the Academy, Uhura and Spock have been together for over five months now, Scotty is Scotty and probably has had a mix of both girls and boys in his youth and is looking to settle down once this voyage is over, and Sulu… well… I know he's been with people, he just won't say who or… anything, really."

Chekov blinked at the end of his captain's tirade and shook his head, "I've never been sexual with anyone. Sure, I've kissed girls before. It was nice. Also, there was something with a boy back at the Academy, but… I've never felt any sexual pull to any of them."

Kirk blinked at him, "You're eighteen, Chekov, and you've never had sex?"

"I've never wanted to," was Chekov's reply. He glared hotly at his captain and pushed passed him, a deep "Excuse me, Captain," coming from his throat before he left the premise.

As he was fleeing from the awkwardness of Kirk's confrontation, he didn't see where he was going, and bumped in to Nyota Uhura herself. "Oh! Sorry, Ms. Uhura."

"No worries, Ensign," she said, smiling at her young friend.

Over the five months since they were shot off into space on their five year journey, Uhura and Chekov became close, especially when Chekov confronted Spock in her presence about the young ensign losing the half-Vulcan's mother. Sulu was also a constant companion, but Chekov liked Uhura because she was much like his own sister, who was now a lawyer in the United States.

"Something on your mind?" Uhura asked, noticing something was up.

"Oh… the captain is worried about me… my… my sex life, that is," Pavel replied, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

Uhura glared at the door to the bridge a little and scoffed, shaking her head, "I'll talk to him…"

"No!" Pavel said, grabbing on the older woman's hand. "I just… it got me thinking. Should I… should I have had sex by now?"

Uhura glanced at him, then down the hall. Then she tugged the hand still clasping his and pulled him down to an abandoned room. Or, the only sparsely populated room, as Sulu was on the only one in it. The other rooms were filled with engineers, especially, resting up for a long journey ahead of them.

"Honey," Uhura said in a low whisper. Sulu raised an eyebrow at them, but continued reading his PADD, "are you worried that you haven't… lost your virginity yet? Virginity is a precious treasure, you know… and you don't have to give it up to just anyone—"

Pavel's blush deepened, "No! I'm not worried about my virginity…" he cried, putting his head in his hand. Once he had gotten the heat out of his cheeks, he glanced up at Uhura, and then at Sulu, who was looking at him.

Sulu scooted closer to the two, "What brought this on?" he asked.

"Kirk being an asshole," Uhura replied, glaring at the door like the captain would walk in at any moment.

Sulu looked at his young friend with an amused smile, "He make you feel left out or something, Pasha?"

Pavel shook his head, "No. He… he got me thinking, though…"

"Yeah?" Sulu asked, folding his arms on the table and leaning forward.

"I… I don't know," Pavel said, looking off to the side a bit, "I just… don't feel that way about people. I don't… I don't feel sexually about anyone. Not any of my girlfriends, not about the one boy I fancied… and… certainly not the man I fancy now…"

Sulu smiled a knowing smile, and he and Uhura exchanged glances. They knew of Chekov's fluttery feelings that he got when around one Montgomery Scott. They were both interested in transwarp theory, and had spent hours talking about it. Scotty had even helped to perfect Chekov's ability at the beaming pad. Suffice to say, the time they spent together had made Chekov fall for the much older man.

"What does fancy mean for you, then?" Uhura asked, genuinely curious.

"I… I care deeply for them, I guess. More that other friends, that is. Maybe… maybe I just love them. But… I want to know what this is: my not having sexual feelings for anyone…"

Uhura glanced at Sulu, who glanced back at her. When they both shrugged their shoulders at each other, Pavel sighed, "Oh well… guess I'll never know. I mean… words like homosexual and heterosexual have the word 'sex' in them, so… I'm not bisexual or anything like that…"

"Spock may know," Uhura said softly. "I mean… if you want to divulge your secret to him…"

Pavel blinked, thinking about it for a time. "I trust the Commander. And you love him, so I know he's trustworthy…"

The three stood up at that point, leaving the room and making their way up to the bridge first. Spock was at his station, studying something for the next journey to their next destination. Uhura cleared her throat, "Commander?"

Spock looked up, and nodded, "Lieutenant Uhura. Helmsman Sulu. Ensign Chekov. How can I help you?"

Uhura elbowed her young companion lightly forward. Chekov cleared his throat nervously, and then looked up at Spock with his green-grey eyes: "Uhm… do you know what its called when one person… uhm… doesn't feel sexual feelings for people at all, but… but still feels romantic feelings?"

"Hmm… this is interesting," the half-Vulcan mused. "I believe it was once called asexuality… After it passed that all couples could marry, even those consisting of two males or two females, sexuality no longer had labels. Then came the gender neutral revolution, and gender no longer had labels. Soon everything was only labeled in private, but… asexuality never came out of the woodworks like sexuality and gender did…"

"I'm… asexual then?" Chekov asked.

Spock nodded, "That seems to be the case. But romance and sexuality should always be apart from each other, for the most part. These romantic feelings used to take the names of the sexualities."

Now all three were staring at the Commander with confused expressions.

"In the old days the sexualities were named: for example, men who liked other men were known as homosexuals. Women who liked women were also homosexuals," the science officer explained, "You must remember some of this from your history books…"

Chekov nodded, "Right… homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual. In the early 2000s, more popped up, like pansexual, demisexual… and asexual!"

"Precisely, Ensign Chekov," Spock replied, nodding. "Well… romantic picked up the terms as well. Homoromantic, heteroromantic, biromantic…"

"Oh," Uhura said. "So asexuals could still distinguish which genders they preferred. Chekov? Do you know which you would be?"

"One of the girls was a male-to-female transsexual. She still had male parts, but I didn't care about that. I didn't want sex, and she was more of a woman than any of the other girls we knew… Panromantic, maybe?"

"A panromantic asexual," Sulu said, clapping his young friend on the back. "You're cooler than any of us…"

Chekov blushed, "I'm just different. We… we no longer see sexuality or gender or race like we used to even in the early 2000s… so me coming to terms with who I am isn't a big deal—shouldn't be a big deal," he said, turning so he was addressing all three in his circle at the moment. "And Kirk shouldn't have put me on the spot like that…"

"I'm sure the captain did mean it… he may have little tact, but he wasn't being cruel on purpose," Spock reminded.

Chekov nodded, "Thank you, Commander Spock, for clearing some things up for me…"

"Glad to help, Ensign Chekov," Spock replied, smiling a little as he nodded his head.

Uhura kissed his cheek and stayed back with him. Sulu and Chekov walked out of the bridge again, both silent to the bone.

"In historical terms, how would you define yourself, Hikaru?" Pavel asked.

"Hmmm…" Hikaru mused as they made their way towards the room they had vacated only a few minutes before. "Heterosexual, maybe. I didn't even want to experiment when I was young. As for romantic? Probably heteroromantic. I don't mind a little bromance, but I'll keep it more 'bro' than 'mance.'"

The conversation ended when they opened the door to the room they had all met up in. Scotty was in the corner, his head on his crossed arms on the table.

"Mr. Scott?" Chekov asked, stepping toward him.

Hikaru stayed put in the doorway, a knowing smile on his face.

Scotty looked up, "Oh, hey Mr. Chekov…"

"Please, how many times do I have to beg you to call me Pavel?" the Russian whizkid asked.

Scotty chuckled, "Only fair of you call me Scotty."

Hikaru rolled his eyes, "Look, Pasha… I'll be up on the bridge. I'm pretty sure Johnson messed with my equipment while I was off duty last night, and I better fix it before we take off for the next federation planet."

"Don't want you to forget the parking brake again, do we, Hikaru?" Chekov asked, grinning slyly at his friend.

"Cheeky bastard," Sulu replied, chuckling, "Play nice, you two."

When the door clicked shut behind the Asian pilot, Chekov turned to Scotty, "Is there something the matter, Mr.—Scotty?"

"Nothing. My head hurts a little, but I was hoping a little rest would make it go away… something's been up with you, too…"

Chekov blushed, but sat down next to the older man and put his arms on the table. "Spock was giving Ms. Nyota, Hikaru and me a history lesson. You remember the sexuality and gender revolutions of the early 2000s, yeah?"

Scotty nodded, "Thank goodness for that. After that, race melted away into the word-works, finally, and we just saw human beings. Then, you know, first contact with aliens and all that, and then it was human being vs. alien. What brought on the ancient history lesson?"

"Kirk gave me a tirade summing up the fact that I'm eighteen and I haven't had sex," Chekov said after some embarrassed twiddling of his proverbial thumbs.

"So what if you're a virgin," Scotty said after some thought.

"It's not just that. It made me realize that I just am not sexual like the rest of you," Chekov replied.

"You're… you're asexual," Scotty said.

Chekov nodded, turning to his older companion. "I mean, I like touching and kissing and stuff like that… it just… doesn't turn me on like it might turn the captain on… or someone. I'm still… still romantic. And if sex needs to be involved for the other person in my relationship… I might be so inclined. But I'd rather not have to…"

"You just wouldn't enjoy it as much," Scotty added, nodding. He seemed a little disappointed in the confession, but as a half-comfortable silence fell on the two, he really thought things over. "But romance is so much more fun. Challenging, but that's part of what makes it fun."

"I guess…" Chekov replied. They were sitting forward now, not even looking at each other.

Another half-comfortable silence passed between them. Finally, Scotty turned to Chekov, "You still like kissing?"

Chekov turned to him, blushing lightly, "Touching is a basic human need. Kissing is a more romantic form to some people…"

Scotty nodded, slowly reaching behind Chekov's head, "Then you won't mind—"

"No," Chekov replied, cutting him off both with his short reply and a swift locking of both their lips.

After a few moments of pure melting bliss, Chekov threw his arms around the older male, pulling them closer together. When they parted for air, Scotty stared into the younger male's eyes for a brief moment as they each caught their breath. Then he put his forehead on Chekov's and closed his eyes. "I don't care if you're asexual. I don't. Love… love is more important to me right now as I'm getting older…"

"Then…"

"I love you, Pasha…"

"… And I love you."