Siskoshir and 13 (discreetly) for the ask game? ❤️
thanks for the ask! <3 also oops i accidentally went waaay overboard. this isn't really explicitly romantic or platonic, so interpret it as you will. i think. i don't know what makes a kiss romantic tbh. it is what you decide it is!
A hand squeezed suddenly at Julian's shoulder, and he only barely suppressed a flinch.
"Chin up, Doctor," Sisko breathed into his ear, voice barely louder than Julian's own heartbeat. If he weren't augmented, he was quite certain he wouldn't have heard it at all. "We'll get out of here. Just hold on."
Then Julian felt something soft brush the back of his head, a gentle reassurance, and Sisko was gone again, vanished into the mass of prisoners and leaving only a trace of warmth behind.
"We won't be able to communicate openly, once we're in place," Sisko had warned, before everything began. "If they discover that we're associated - they are not known for their mercy. Are you certain you're up for this, Doctor?"
"I am," Julian said, determined. "I won't let you down."
He was the best choice for this type of mission, in his opinion. He'd survived Internment Camp 371, after all. He would survive this, too.
It would be better this time. Julian would have Sisko with him, and he'd be there for a reason, not trapped with little hope of escape.
Perhaps Julian had been - a touch overconfident.
In truth, he didn't know if he would have managed to complete his part of the infiltration, if it weren't for Sisko's gentle companionship.
Oh, they couldn't be seen openly together, of course, but the camp was crowded - and in a place where you could hardly move without brushing elbows with a stranger, it was hardly a crime for them to be near one another.
And so, Sisko began - touching. Just little brushes, at first, tracing fingers against wrist or bumping shoulder to shoulder. Little signs of comradery which - though Julian was loath to admit it - were doing a great deal to keep him grounded. Each time the noise or the stench or the aura of despair became suffocating, Sisko would appear and, unobtrusively, find some way to touch him, and suddenly he could breathe again.
Julian returned the favor whenever he could, and hoped that the contact was doing even half as much for Sisko as it was for him.
Then, almost a week into their unpleasant stay, Sisko pushed past him and brushed a kiss to his cheek, coupled with a light squeeze of his shoulder. The touch lasted hardly a moment, and to an observer, would certainly seem accidental - but to Julian it felt as bolstering as his first sight of DS9 after escaping the Internment Camp.
The next day, when the opportunity arose, Julian pressed a secret kiss to Sisko's wrist - and from there, swift kisses, chaste and discreet, were quickly adopted into their touching routine.
They were... nice, Julian decided. Pleasant.
He couldn't help but wonder if they would continue even once back on the Station.
He rather hoped they would.
for this ask game. i've got one left to write for it, but if anyone else wishes to send a request, i'm happy to do that, too!
