New Fic: Bearly Known

[jackwabbit]

Bearly Known

Fandom: Star Trek Discovery
Rated: G
Category: Triple Drabble. Culmets. RickyVerse. Family. Fluff. Mild Angst, Perhaps. A Bit Sad.
Time Frame: Post Season Three.
Spoilers: General Series Knowledge Only – Through Season Three.
Summary: There are so many things Adira doesn’t know. And sadly, some they can never learn.
Note: Another Ricky story, because I just can’t help myself.

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It all started because Paul was bored.

The conference hadn’t started yet, and he was as prepared as he was going to get. He had nothing to do but wait.

So he took the first holo on a whim.

He sent it to Hugh that night, and the response he got insured he took more pictures later.

And now, as Adira flips to another image, they can see why.

Ricky on a sailboat. Ricky in a tree. On a beach. And of course, under a giant mushroom.

The pictures are fun and whimsical and Adira has a hard time imagining Paul taking them at first. But then the man in question comes back into the room, giddily rubbing his hands together, and it all clicks.

“So, where were we?” he asks excitedly.

Adira points at the picture up next on the PADD.

Paul looks at the image and smiles.

“Oh, that’s Deneva,” he says, and his eyes go soft.

“You spent a lot of time on Deneva, didn’t you?” Paul punctuates his words by tickling the bear in Adira’s lap.

“You, me, Uncle Justin...”

Adira blinks.

“Who’s Justin?”

Paul pulls back slightly and blinks back.

“I’ve never mentioned Justin?”

Adira shakes their head. “I don’t think so.”

Paul huffs out a laugh.

“Justin,” he drawls, “was the biggest pain in the ass.”

Hugh takes that moment to enter the room and the conversation.

“Second biggest pain in the ass,” he corrects.

Paul rolls his eyes, and Hugh laughs.

Adira just smiles and listens as the two banter and somehow tell them all about Paul’s former research partner.

And when they’re done, when it’s later than it should be, Adira turns in, once again jealous of an ancient stuffed bear - this time because they’ll never know Uncle Justin like Ricky did.