New Fic: Carnival

[jackwabbit]

Carnival

Fandom: Star Trek Discovery
Rated: G
Category: Culmets. Mild Sickfic. With a Small Side of Hurt/Comfort and Some Humor.
Word Count: 585
Season: Any Time After Three.
Spoilers: General series knowledge only – through season three.
Summary: Paul and Hugh visit a carnival, where Hugh is predictable, and Paul is prepared.
Note: It’s Mardi Gras time, and though I’m a bit late, I wanted to give you all a present. Hope you enjoy.

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Hugh was bent over, hand on his knees and eyes squeezed shut, when heard the hiss.

He sighed in relief, and as the nausea churning in his gut and the dizziness spinning in his head subsided, he slowly opened his eyes.

He almost wished he hadn’t.

Because all around him were the sights of a truly old-fashioned carnival, complete with garish colors, too-bright lights, and way too much motion.

And right in the middle of it all was Paul’s smug, self-satisfied grin and knowing eyes.

Hugh did his best to glare at his partner, but he knew his attempt was feeble at best. The not-quite-stifled chuckle from Paul confirmed that, and Hugh sighed again as took his hands off his knees and slowly unfolded his body from its half hunched posture.

“You okay?” asked Paul, smugness fading into concern.

Hugh nodded shakily. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank Tracy. She’s the one who gave it to me.”

Hugh looked confused. Paul smiled.

“After I asked,” he elaborated. “Come on. Do you really think I’d come here without a hypo for you?”

Hugh blinked slowly, then chuckled. “But you’re not that kind of doctor.”

“Good thing it doesn’t take a genius to work a hypospray. Oh, wait,” Paul said, putting a finger to his lips, looking upward, and pretending to think hard.

Hugh rolled his eyes, then started down the promenade, leaving Paul in his wake.

Paul noticed after a second, and hurried to catch up to Hugh. When he did, Hugh took his hand and gently knocked their shoulders together.

“Besides,” he said, “I wasn’t thanking you for the hypo – though I do appreciate it.”

“Oh?” asked Paul.

“Yeah, I was thanking you for not pointing out my poor decision-making skills.”

“Well, it’s not like it was unexpected,” said Paul.

“Thus the hypo,” said Hugh. “That I neglected to bring. Because I swore I wouldn’t do this this time.”

“Thus the hypo,” echoed Paul, letting the rest go.

“Still,” murmured Hugh, “thanks for not rubbing it in. I knew better than to ride that thing. But Adira looked so pathetic, and...”

He trailed off. Because Paul was smirking again. Hugh groaned, realizing his error too late.

“And you’re a sucker for puppy dog eyes,” said Paul, pulling back on Hugh’s hand enough to stop them and giving him a very fine example of said expression indeed.

Hugh sighed, but Paul ignored him and kept going, his pathetic look morphing into one of irritation.

“A sucker who does this every time there’s any kind of thrill-seeking to be had, even though he knows he gets motion sickness at the first sign of centripetal force, and who somehow still always forgets to pre-treat himself, despite being one of Starfleet Medical’s finest.”

Hugh gave Paul an impatient look.

“Are you done?”

Paul appeared to be thinking the question over. He didn’t say anything for a long moment. But finally, he answered.

“For now,” he said.

“For now?” Hugh asked, exasperated.

Paul shrugged, and a mischievous twinkle came into his eyes.

“The night is young, dear doctor. The night is young.”

Then he sauntered off, pulling Hugh along behind him and looking for Adira, who had run off somewhere, and for more adventures.

For while he had every intention of ribbing Hugh at least a little bit more for being the epitome of the “good doctor, bad patient” stereotype, for now, he just wanted to enjoy his date.

And enjoy it he would.

Because the night was young indeed.