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Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
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Opacity of Paradise - thehoyden - Star Trek: DS9 [AO3]

"'True enough', my dear doctor, is my favorite kind of lie." || AU set in aftermath of "By Inferno's Light."
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AU that takes Garak and Bashir from their escape from Camp 371 to a relationship – though the beginning is unconventionally framed. But it really fits the situation. Thoroughly clever and enjoyable. 

image

Excerpt

Julian sits down on a bunk, although it’s less like an act of will and more like the force of artificial gravity. “I don’t know if I can sleep.”

Garak sits down beside him. “You can.”

“Do you know, I dreamt every night in that awful place that it was only a dream, that I wasn’t really there. I think I’m afraid that if I go to sleep, I’ll be there again,” Julian confesses, almost below a whisper.

Garak doesn’t look like he thinks that’s a ridiculous fear, or an unimportant one. And instead of saying anything, he leans forward and softly, deliberately kisses the underside of Julian’s jawline, near his ear.

It’s a weird place for a first kiss, Julian thinks. Even if Garak had been wanting to give a gesture of affection more platonic than passionate, the underside of his jaw would not have been his first guess. The forehead, perhaps, or the maybe the cheek, but under his jaw? Or maybe Cardassians had vastly different ideas of what could be considered a platonic touch.

Either way, he is sufficiently distracted that Garak is able to maneuver him to lie down on the bunk next to the wall, and Garak stretches out beside him, their knees and elbows touching. Much later, he’d decide that had been the point of that strange kiss – to let his mind chase after a problem more benign than all the others before him.

“Sleep,” Garak says. “I can’t sleep until you do.”

And still wondering about that odd kiss, Julian drops off between one moment and the next with no difficulty whatsoever.

Metadata:

Title: Opacity of Paradise
Author: thehoyden
Year Posted: 2010
Approx. Word Count: 10,000
Chapters: 1
GB - Slash or Platonic: Slash
My Rating (1-5): 5
Keywords: AU, “By Inferno’s Light,“ Hurt-Comfort, Marriage, Genetic Revelation, “Doctor Bashir, I Presume” 

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prelocandkanar.livejournal.com

"Sacrifice" by PrelocAndKanar

In the aftermath of "Broken Link," Garak's put in confinement for 6 months. Julian want to see him in the brig. Garak doesn't much want to be seen but Julian insists. The visits continue. Garak continues. What will happen when he gets out?
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Quite an interesting story that imagines how Garak spent those six months after he tried to destroy the Founders’ home world (plus Bashir, Odo, Sisko, and everyone else on board the Defiant, himself included). Bashir gets Odo to let Garak do his sentence in his quarters rather in the brig, and he also decides he ought to visit the man. I don’t think I’ve come across another story that covers this period. Meanwhile, the plot takes an interesting turn, which I won’t reveal. 

Excerpt

Garak watched, fascinated. “Did – Did I invite you to lunch today, doctor?” 

“Huh?” Bashir looked up, loaf poised at his mouth. 

Garak could feel icy fingers clutching his gut. There could be only one reason the doctor was here. 

“I don’t need your pity, Dr. Bashir,” he said with as much dignity as he could manage. 

“Pity?” Bashir looked genuinely puzzled. “The pity would be to pass up a Kannish loaf. That vendor – the one opposite the florist’s, you know – he rarely has them. They’re very good.” He began his assault on the food. 

As Garak continued to gaze at Bashir, he slowly felt the knot in his stomach loosen. He turned to the replicator to get a proper set of dishes and utensils. He turned back; Bashir was more than halfway finished with his loaf. A fleeting look of bemused tenderness passed over Garak’s face. As Bashir put down the Kannish, a drop of red sauce fell to the carpet. He glanced quickly at Garak. His host, setting the trappings of civilization on the table, pretended he hadn’t noticed. Bashir silently shifted his chair so that the leg covered the spot. 

“I brought you something,” Bashir said, missing Garak’s exasperated expression that came and left in a pulse. He took out an isolinear rod and slapped it down on the table. “This one, I know you’ll like.” A look of triumph. “Dostoyevsky.” 

Metadata

Title: Sacrifice (you can hit Next or it’s Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4)
Author: PrelocAndKanar 
Year Posted: 2008
Approx. Word Count: 9,000
Chapters: 4
GB - Slash or Platonic: Slash
My Rating (1-5): 5
Keywords: Sacrifice, “Broken Link,” Garak in the Brig, Literature