It wasn't that Odo didn't love Quark. Far from it, in fact— he was utterly mortified by just how much he'd come to care about that disgusting little man. However, Odo had his job to do, and Quark was a known criminal. It would have been unprofessional of Odo not to investigate Quark when there was crime on the station. Besides, Odo loved investigating Quark almost as much as he loved Quark himself, and it was plain to see that Quark not-so-secretly enjoyed being the subject of Odo's interrogations.

However, Odo was surprised to notice that the amount of crimes committed by Quark dropped off significantly once they started dating— and yes, Odo had finally come around to admit that they were indeed dating; there was really no other word for what they were doing. Odo still felt a bit uncomfortable referring to Quark as his boyfriend, but he supposed that was what they were now: boyfriends. The word just sounded so childish, though, and Odo avoided using it whenever possible. Of course, this meant that "boyfriend" had quickly become Quark's favourite word.

Naturally, as surprisingly steep as its decline was, Quark's crime rate didn't drop off completely— to follow the law 100% of the time would be against that Ferengi's nature. And Odo, dating though they were, was still DS9's chief of security. When Odo found Quark guilty of smuggling dilithium crystals, he didn't hesitate to throw him in the brig for the night. However, Quark made the whole thing extremely difficult for Odo— not by resisting arrest, as that would have been pointless, but by embarrassing Odo in front of the entire promenade while he was being escorted to the brig.

Leaning up against Odo, who was holding Quark's hand so he wouldn't break away, Quark waved at a Bajoran couple who were passing by. "You two out on a date?" he inquired, speaking a lot more loudly than necessary. "So am I! My man here is just taking me out for a stroll, as you can see."

"That's a lie," Odo growled; if he'd been solid, his skin probably would have been growing hot. "What I'm doing is escorting this criminal to the brig— where he belongs!"

A few people stopped to stare at them. Not wanting to be gawked at by onlookers, Odo sharply tugged Quark along. He wasn't in the mood for his lawless boyfriend's antics. Flashing their observers a grin, Quark used his spare hand to squeeze Odo's backside. Irritated, Odo let go of Quark's hand and instead formed an extra appendage on his back to wrap around Quark's wrist and lift him up off the ground.

"My, my, Constable!" Quark giggled as he dangled in the air in front of Odo, blushing. "Why can't you be more like this in the bedroom?"

Odo snorted contemptuously and dropped Quark, who immediately hopped to his feet and ran off back toward his bar. "Don't think you can get out of this that easily!" Odo shouted, running after him. "You're going to spend the night in a holding cell; end of story!"

"Come and catch me, then!" Quark taunted, although by the time the words were out of his mouth, Odo was already upon him. Quark didn't put up too much resistance, but he did take the opportunity to get in a quick kiss on the lips. Grunting, Odo pushed Quark's head back and dragged him the rest of the way to the brig at a brisk pace.

Once Quark was in a holding cell, Odo had a stern talk with him through the force field.

"Quark, your behaviour just now was completely unacceptable," he said. "Just because we are... dating—" he spoke the word in a growl— "does not give you a free pass from adhering to the law."

"Oh, I never adhere to the law if I can help it," said Quark, batting his eyes. "Surely you must have figured that out by now, my darling constable."

"I figured it out a long time ago," Odo barked. He was getting fed up with Quark's attitude. "That doesn't mean I'm going to stop arresting you when you do something illegal."

Apparently all out of flippant remarks, Quark drew his knees up to his chest, pouting. Odo harrumphed and left the brig. There were other, more important crimes on this station he could be monitoring.