Tender Secret

Title: Tender Secret.

Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Pairing: Garak/Bashir

Word count: 270.

Rating: PG-13.

Warnings: None I can think of.

Beta:

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Disclaimer: I don't own any Cardies or Doctors.

Summary: A short, contemplative look at how Garak and Bashir could also be.

Link to this ficlet on AO3.

It was their little secret, never mentioned in the flood of words always rushing between them wherever they went. Everything else was fair game, but this... this was theirs. By some unspoken agreement it had become a private thing in a place where nothing was left that way for long.

They both had secrets enough on their own, but this was one they shared. The secret of arms holding tight. Of lips tracing cheeks. Hands stroking hair. Fingers meshing in darkened rooms. The tenderness was something neither wanted to share with anyone else. That they were together was no longer a secret to anyone who cared to look for it. But what they actually had to offer each other was nobody else's business.

They hadn't even had sex, not yet. It wasn't what they wanted most. Whenever they found a moment alone, it was always enjoyed to the fullest. Tangling together, sharing breaths and body heat. Touching reverently, feeling pulses, hearing hearts beating their different rhythms. Dozing on broad shoulders or in long arms, drawing in scents that were long since familiar, yet not nearly enough.

Hardly a word was spoken between them when they were alone like this. There was no need. No rush of trying to understand or unravel. No debate or argument. Just bodies soaking up each other, like dried out rivers feeling the first drops of the rain. Never agreed upon, simply happening. Gravitating towards each other instead of circling like they usually did.

Here - there was no doctor and tailor, nor Garak and Bashir.

Here - they were Elim and Julian. Nothing more, nothing less.

End.