Okay. It’s incredibly common in the fanfic. And every single time it gives me the yigg.

Garak tells Bashir about a Cardassian tradition, OR gives him this piece of jewelry, OR fakes this illness, and Bashir respects the tradition/wears the jewelry/tries to treat the illness, and it leads to sexy times, and yee hah, and Bashir asks about the tradition/jewelry/illness, and Garak is all I MADE IT UP TO GET IN YOUR PANTS/IT’S A BETROTHAL RING HA HA WE’RE ENGAGED NOW/THAT ILLNESS ISN’T REAL I JUST WANTED TO SEX YOU.

And Bashir’s always all, oh, you rascal, let’s sexy times again.

And I just can’t help thinking that lying to get into someone’s pants is very different from lying to entertain, or to protect oneself. If I were Bashir, I’d be horribly embarrassed and very turned off. Especially with that betrothal jewelry bullshit. Seriously, don’t lie about that.

I’m thinking too much. But it’s a weird trope and I don’t like it.