Bearly DifferentCategory: Culmets. RickyVerse. Literal Fluff. Humor. Established Relationship.
Time Frame: Early, Likely Pre-Series.
Spoilers: General Series Knowledge Only.
Summary: They almost matched. But Paul is nothing if not observant, and fixing discrepancies, well, that's kind of his thing.
Note: Another Ricky story, because I just can't help myself.
It had been inevitable.
And Hugh knew it.
Still, he'd tried to avoid it for as long as possible.
But now, after dinner on a lazy evening with a gentle rain trickling down outside, the time had come.
His mother had pulled out the clunky old PADD that held the family photos and once again, it powered up despite its age. It was as if the thing had a mind of its own and was determined to embarrass every member of the Culber family as many times as possible over the course of their lives. And when his mother patted the couch next to her and Paul sat there dutifully, Hugh knew tonight would be no exception.
He glared at the PADD, then sighed and sat on his mother's opposite side.
Her slight grin was her only response, and a moment later, Hugh's story unfolded for all to see.
Paul cooed at all the right baby pictures and giggled at school plays, but it wasn't until Hugh's teen years that he truly got excited.
"It's Ricky!" he shouted, as a new photo came up on the screen.
"Oh, yes," answered Hugh's mother. "Their little outfits. So cute!"
Hugh groaned and tried to hide under a pillow.
"They really did match!" said Paul, more excited than Hugh had seen him in a while.
"I told you!" Hugh said, reaching around his mom to gently smack Paul with the pillow.
"Yeah, I know, but… wow."
"Yeah, wow," echoed Hugh. "Okay. Moving on." He tried to swipe the screen to move to the next picture, but his mother moved the PADD so that he couldn't. Just then, Paul focused on it again.
"No, wait," he said, cocking his head to one side in concentration and leaning forward to get a better look at the picture. After a moment, Paul breathed out a noncommittal "huh" and leaned back again.
"What is it?" asked Hugh.
"Nothing," said Paul, with a grin that said it was anything but.
Hugh sighed again, not believing Paul for a second, but letting it go as his mother did indeed go on to the next picture.
It took another hour for her to finish, but there were no further major embarrassments, so Hugh counted it as a win. A short time later, everyone turned in, and Hugh forgot all about the incident.
That is, until he and Paul returned home two nights later.
They'd gotten in late and gone straight to bed, but when Hugh woke the next day, he was surprised to find that Paul had gotten up before him.
When Hugh found Paul on the couch reading, his partner had a smug grin on his face and a teddy bear tucked under one arm.
A teddy bear wearing his usual colorful clothes, with one notable new addition.
Now Ricky had an earring.