#lietwice. garak

[jsbashirmd]

[[ plotted starter for @lietwice

Garak has clearly been feeling properly awful for weeks. Julian has been watching him carefully, waiting for any chance to help or to comfort, and taking those opportunities where they come. But it's gone on long enough that when he has the chance to stealthily scan his sleeping partner, he takes it. It's unprofessional, it's an invasion of privacy, it's perfectlh normal for the two of them, but it's... devastating.

Pregnant. Julian tries to tell himself that it could be some sort of medical anomaly. An unfertilized egg growing out of control, a tumor that the body is mistaking for something else... His scan isn't specific enough to really know for sure. But Julian hadn't even known that Garak could become pregnant, and given his own deliberate lack of fertility... It's not necessarily a betrayal, but it feels like one, and Julian curses himself for being so nosey for nearly an hour before gently shaking Garak awake, his open tricorder still where his partner can see. There's no point in hiding his crimes now, but he does school his expression into one of sincere concern and apology rather than open hurt.

"Hi, darling. Can we talk about this?"

[galacticforces]

[[semi-plotted starter for @lietwice

Annihilation fantasies. That was what Ezri had been teasing him about, only weeks ago. He might not have been killed, but it certainly felt like his whole world had been pulled apart out from under him. And now here he is, clinging desperately to someone else's, hoping it will be enough to keep him from falling with it. Julian is soaked through, drops of water leaving small dark dots in the dust as he walks. It would have been more thematically appropriate if it had been from rain, but Cardassia Prime was hot. Warmer by far than he was accustomed to, and he'd been told this was chilly for the season. The sun was shining as much as it ever did, when he'd stepped out of the transport, and now, three miles of hard walking later, he is simply feeling the results of that.

The dishonorable discharge from Star Fleet had pulled his feet out from under him in a terrifyingly unexpected turn of events. He hadn't had any idea what to do, but at least it had been worth it--he would gladly pay that price to stop a genocide and end a war. His breakup with Ezri had been inevitable, after that, but had still left him heartbroken, which piled on to the hurt and left him even more adrift. However, it was the next blow that truly ached. Julian Bashir, upon review of the Federation medical ethics board, had had his license revoked.

After that, it had taken him only days to make his way into the Cardassian Union, via methods of dubious legality, and to locate Garak's residence. It's late enough now that he believes he can hope for Garak to be there. Shaking, doing his best to ignore the stares of the people passing by, Julian makes his presence known by activating the door chime. Then he waits.

[jsbashirmd]

purring starter for @lietwice

It was the fifth time he'd slept in Garak's bed. Julian still didn't know if any of this was smart, but Garak was... Well, smart or not, Julian liked him. He was attractive and infuriating and intelligent and Julian no longer had any interest in trying to keep his distance. But still, there were new discoveries to be made all the time. For example, this odd sort of rumbling coming from somewhere in Garak's chest.

Julian just listened for a minute, but then, when it continued, he moved his hand around to try to find where exactly it was originating. "What does this mean?" he asked quietly. "What you're doing right now--is it a good thing?"

[jsbashirmd]

purring starter for @lietwice

Julian is sick. It's frightening--he can't remember ever being so ill, and even knowing the cause of it doesn't help, because there's no known effective treatment for this particular virus in humans. He's been lethargic, nauseous, achy, and itchy, and, most worryingly, cold, despite it being the dead of Cardassian summer.

They'd tried to keep it from the children, but after a few days, Soren had stopped by. It's been a rotating door of concerned family since then, but all Julian really wants to do is to be held by Garak, and so he has been, because his enjoined continues to be the best in the galaxy. It's day eight of the illness, and Julian is laying exhaustedly in Garak's arms when a rumbling starts in his chest, entirely out of his control. Something in him vibrates, sounding for all the world like a purr, and Julian blinks in open confusion before putting his own hand over his chest to try to find the source of it. "Is that... Do you feel that?" he asks.

[jsbashirmd]

[[ plotted starter for @lietwice

Garak was hiding something. For a month, he'd entirely disappeared, keeping himself out of sight, for all that he communicated normally through messages of various sorts. Julian was convinced that it was due to an injury he didn’t want to admit to. But now... Now he'd caught a couple glimpses of him looking well enough, but his messages were strained. Maybe he ought not have bothered with a friend so insistent on being secretive, but how could he not, when he knew no one else would?

So Julian made another house call, with the intention of overriding the lock this time if Garak didn't respond. But something saved him the trouble. A child's voice came through the thin wall, followed swiftly by Garak telling them to stop, and then the door slid open, and in front of Julian was a wide-eyed Cardassian boy who was looking up at him with something that looked very much like relief. "Abba!" And then he was being hugged, and then climbed, and he reached automatically to support the child, but he looked at Garak with mild panic as he did.

[jsbashirmd]

[[ plotted body-swap starter for @lietwice

It was a transporter accident, because wasn't everything? The normal fizzle of being dissolved into energy spun into a world of unfamiliar sensations and excruciating pain. His brain felt slow, his senses muted, and as he promptly fell over, he felt the agony of angry joints and sore muscles. The cold was just the cherry on top. It took him three long seconds to even focus his vision enough to realize he was looking at himself, and then it was obvious what had happened.

"Fuck," he cursed, voice coming out strange from this unfamiliar mouth. "Fuck. Captain?" He struggled back up and tapped his com badge, where it sat on his body's chest, and tried not to think too hard about how Garak must be inside him. "There's a situation. I'm Dr. Bashir. I seem to have swapped bodies with Garak. We're headed straight for the infirmary." Because something more than the switch was going on, and if he didn't get some medication now, he'd be whimpering uselessly in minutes.

[jsbashirmd]

@lietwice sent:

[ CARRY ]  for one muse to find the other injured and carry them to safety. ( I don't mind which way around it is! could be an away mission of some kind, or post-war cardassia either during relief and rescue efforts or a fight of some kind has broken out or something like that. or an attack on the station, that could also work. or anything else you can think of! )

Julian doesn't often pick up his husband. He's capable, certainly, but it doesn't really seem to surprise and delight him the way being picked up surprises and delights Julian. So it's only at times like this, few as they thankfully are, that Julian shows off his strength in quite this way. Garak is half-buried under the collapse, barely conscious and certainly concussed, but he's low priority to everyone else on the scene.

"Hey. Hey, love. You're okay. I'm right here." He's already removing the rubble, but he's trying to be careful about it. Strategic. "I'm not going anywhere until you're out and okay." And he's not. He wouldn't leave for anything. It takes almost twenty minutes to get Garak free, but Julian still doesn't give him much warning before picking him up and getting them both quickly back from the unstable area. Then he just continues, carrying him all the way to one of the medical tents. "Can you talk to me, darling?" he asks when he's finally set him down again.

[jsbashirmd]

[[ lietwice sent ❄️ for a starter featuring hypothermia

The station environmental systems had been freaking out all day, causing ice and fog and areas so warm that plastic and even thin metals started to melt. So Julian obviously had his hands full treating contact burns and slips and cold weather exposure. He didn't get a chance to look at the map of hot and cold spots until nearly lunch, but as soon as he did, nothing else was important. He bolted, only taking time to snag a medical kit on his way out the door, and sprinted all the way around the ring to Garak's shop. The door was frozen shut, and it took three hard hits to get the door to slide open. It took a worrying amount of time after that to find Garak, but it was no real surprise what sort of state he was in.

"Garak, hey, I'm here. I'm right here. Can you look at me? Are you awake and aware enough for that? Just look at my face. I'm going to get you warm again."