Julian Bashir wasn't going to let a little thing like not knowing how to play Parrises Squares keep him from playing. No one would be able to tell - Julian had always caught onto these sorts of things quite quickly. He remembered the first time he'd played soccer - it was during a summer on Betazed. He'd been the star of the team almost from the first moment he stepped onto the field. If he could master that game then Julian was sure that he'd have no trouble with this one.

Oh, how wrong he was. Just an hour later he'd cracked two ribs, sprained his ankle, hit his head and gotten a broken nose. He would have to give himself a scolding, though to be honest when the other players saw he wasn't catching on they ought to have stopped. Worf claimed it was "just part of the game". Indeed.

Julian was glad he had left when he did. They'd yelled at him, trying to get him to stop and come back. Julian decided not to listen.

Walking through Quarks people started at him. One man took his eyes off the dabo wheel and the dabo girl to look wide eyed at Julian. A few people turned their heads embarrassed. Julian wondered if they'd not seen anyone who'd lost at Parisses Squares before. One women covered he child's eyes. Julian understood that much - he didn't doubt that he looked gruesome.

Quark yelled something at him, but Julian decided to zone out the ferengi. He probably just wanted to sell him some sort of tonic.

As he lumbered back to the infirmary to patch himself up (which wouldn't be too hard) Julian found that when you were injured people gave you plenty of space. Yet he wondered why no one was helping him… perhaps they were intimidated by him. Yes, that was probably it.

He continued on his way, when a familiar Trill came up to him.

"Julian…" she started, but he didn't want to hear it. He knew very well that it had not been a good idea to play, and didn't need to lecturing him, or saying how sorry she was that he'd lost.

"Jadzia, I know. And I'm fine with it!"

"But Julian-"

"No buts!"

She started to laugh, as did a few more people. A bit peeved he walked off, she called after him once or twice.

Sighing he pressed a button and entered the infirmary, limping over to one of the beds. With no ease he brought himself up onto it and lay down, in pain. Julian would rest a moment before getting the tools he would need. This was going to hurt tomorrow. Perhaps he would take it easy and catch up with reports, instead of doing research tomorrow. Then again, perhaps not.

Suddenly the doors whisked open, Julian could feel himself cringing. The last thing he wanted was a disturbance.

"Julian, I was wondering if -" it was Major Kira, holding a PADD. Julian had moved his lead slightly to the side to look at her.

"Oh, I can see you're… you're - busy. I'll… come back later," with haste she left the room. Julian barely heard her giggles and could hardly understand why Major Kira of all people wasn't willing to help him. It would have to wait until later, when his head wasn't throbbing so.

Julian could feel himself falling asleep. He was determined, however, not to. Suddenly another person entered… O'Brien. The fuzzy shapes was topped with a mop of red fuzz. There was no mistaking it as anyone other than the engineer.

"My god! Julian!" O'Brien exclaimed, before rushing out.

Minutes, perhaps hours later, Julian found himself waking up. He scarcely knew he'd fallen asleep. Standing over him was a Vulcan doctor that he didn't recognize. Also standing over him was Garak.

"Hello Mr. Garak," Julian greeted him, his voice hoarse and his body throbbing.

"Ah, Julian, you gave us quite a scare,"

"I don't ever want to play Parrises Square again,"

"You shouldn't. I won't keep you, I only wanted to stop by to return your pants."

His what? Julian couldn't have head him right…

"Pardon?" Julian asked.

"Yes, you see when you took that final fall they snagged, just about the hips. Front back, everywhere all torn up."

"What?"

"You know, Doctor, most people wear other things underneath their workout outfits. I have some wonderful undergarments in my shop, perhaps you ought to stop by later."

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