(Day 2)
Garak woke up a few hours later to find himself and the good Doctor curled up under a thin blanket, completely wrapped around each other. At some point in the night, he had turned onto his side facing away from Bashir who must have closed the space between them. Garak was pleased to discover he was still protectively enclosed within the safety of the Doctor's arms. His own hand currently rested on top of Bashir's, holding it in place against his ribcage.
There was another issue that had made itself known as he'd stretched. Garak could feel (what he assumed was) the Doctor's morning erection being pressed into his lower back. Ah, to be young. Smirking to himself, Garak decided that he wouldn't disturb his sleeping companion just yet and settled back into the Doctor's embrace. It was a rare thing to wake up this warm and comfortable and he was in no rush to break the moment and face the cold reality of the day. Garak was never normally able to relax this much around others and preferred to sleep alone. Over the years he had found it was much safer that way.
Garak quickly conceded that he'd made a mistake as Bashir shifted in his sleep and ground himself more insistently against his person. Now, this was much worse, the Doctor would likely be self-conscious when he awoke and would be annoyed that Garak had actively chosen to prolong their somewhat compromising position. Accidentally initiated or not.
Lying there, Garak wasn't sure what to do for the best and decided to simply bide his time and wait it out. He stayed where he was and steadied his breathing, trying not to encourage his amorous companion any further. After a quarter of an hour of feigned sleep, Garak sensed the moment when Bashir began to stir.
Julian nestled into the body currently sharing his bed, tightening his grip to pull himself flush against the warm back. He breathed in the familiar and comforting scent of his partner, blissfully at ease in the state between sleep and consciousness. The hair that Julian's face was nuzzled into had started to tickle his nose, so much so that he was almost suffocating as he tried to supress the need to sneeze. Smiling to himself, he gently ran his fingers through the sleek tendrils before moving them aside to apply a kiss to the scales he found underneath. The scales were surprisingly smooth against his lips… Scales? …Garak! Oh God, what sort of friend was he?! Mindlessly pawing at Garak while he was asleep! Julian was disgusted with himself; all his doctor/patient ethics had apparently been thrown straight out the airlock.
As he leaned back in the narrow bed, Julian became increasingly aware of his tented pyjama bottoms and attempted to discreetly tilt his hips away from Garak. How awkward was this going to be? There was no hiding his obvious reaction to the Cardassian now. In his unconscious state, Julian had made his desires quite clear. Could he have been any more painfully obvious? He had gone from innocently spooning to practically dry humping the poor man who'd only allowed their close proximity due to medical incapacitation. Deciding he'd better swiftly extract himself before he disgraced himself any further, Julian hurriedly went to stand, bringing one of the blankets with him.
"Leaving so soon, my Dear?" Garak all but purred, his eyes twinkling with mirth.
Blushing furiously, Julian mumbled something about the visiting the refresher and hastily made his exit
Garak couldn't contain the belly laugh that erupted once the Doctor was safely out of sight. Surely, he was much too old to be amused by this sort of thing? However, the whole scenario of Bashir snuggling even closer to him as he'd woken up had left him gleefully giddy. Not to mention the soft kiss he'd received to the back of the neck which had been a shock, albeit a pleasant one. The Doctor had obviously completely forgotten where he was and who he was with.
It came as no real surprise to Garak that his gentle and tactile lunch companion was a cuddler in bed. Shame faced; the young man had then practically sprinted out of his bedroom as quickly as he could. Had the Doctor been expecting a reprimand? Garak certainly held nothing against him, his arousal was a perfectly natural physical response to their sleeping so close to one another. He himself had not been unaffected, but fortunately, his own anatomy wasn't as crudely conspicuous as Bashir's. Being Cardassian certainly had its perks at times.
Garak decided to stay in bed a little longer to give the Doctor few minutes to calm down. Smirking to himself, he replayed the series of events that had unfolded between them. Garak enjoyed the rosy hue that had fleetingly coloured Bashir's skin and greatly desired to see it again. The temptation to tease the good Doctor about this incident might well prove too difficult to resist, good manners be damned.
- - -.
Julian, now dressed and presentable, had hoped to get their breakfast ready before Garak emerged. However, he could not fathom how Garak had managed to get hot water for their tea yesterday as the replicators still weren't functional. Disgruntled, he fetched them both a ration pack each. He was furious with himself for not making and storing a batch of his improved emergency nutrition bars for just this occasion, they would have been much more palatable. As Julian looked around Garak's quarters, he wondered if there was any way to start a controlled fire without having it eat up their precious oxygen.
Garak swept into the room with his usual flair, despite being bundled up in several blankets. "Good morning Doctor, I hope you had a comfortable night? I know most consider the Cardassian mattresses on the station to be a little too… hard."
Julian nodded in Garak's general direction, not quite composed enough to meet his eyes just yet. "Morning Garak. I didn't notice a problem with the bed, it is the same as my own as far as I could tell. I would, however, like to offer my deepest apologies for climbing in there with you without your express permission."
Garak's eyes softened, all his intentions to continue poking fun at the young man forgotten. "Don't trouble yourself about that, my Dear. Communal sleeping isn't an unusual occurrence between friends on Cardassia, I assume on Earth it is much the same? In fact, I would like to thank you for allowing me to share your body heat. Speaking of which, shall we both get warmed up with some tea?"
Julian rubbed his hands together. "Yes, tea would be lovely. I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't figure out how you heated the water up yesterday. It is quite the mystery."
Chuckling, Garak made a show of retrieving his sewing kit from across the room before he set it down on the table in front of the Doctor. "Oh yes, closely guarded secrets of the trade I'm afraid."
Julian watched with growing intrigue as Garak unfolded a tabletop ironing board and laid out a variety of interesting looking tools and devices before filling a small kettle with water from one of their canisters. Fascinating! How was Garak going to convey the heat to the water? Presumably, the ironing board was there to act as some sort of barrier to protect his coffee table?
Aware of the Doctor's gaze upon him, Garak collected several decorative rocks which had been dotted artfully around his living room. Placing them on the board, he arranged them to form a circle around the kettle. Garak stopped to review his options before retrieving a handheld mirror and his smallest laser cutting tool. Activating the fabric cutter, he skilfully reflected the beam off the surface of the mirror to warm the stones through. Being careful not allow the intensity of the laser to rise enough to damage the rocks, Garak methodically guided the energy to the base of each one until they all emitted a soft glow. It was deftly done, if he said so himself, especially given the lack of feeling in his fingers.
Garak raised a ridge at the Doctor, the shine from the rocks exaggerating his expression even more. "A laser scalpel from your med kit would work just as well. Or, I suppose, one could achieve the same result faster and more efficiently with a phaser. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, is the recommended Starfleet survival training method to be applied in these instances...?"
Bashir barked out a laugh. "Was all that dilly dallying with your tailoring equipment just for my benefit? Yesterday you just used your phaser to boil the water?!"
"Now, now, Doctor. Where would I -a simple tailor- get hold of a weapon like that? I was under the impression that the phasers on the station were restricted to Starfleet personnel only and their distribution was closely monitored by Odo's security team? It is disturbing to think that one could have wandered off without anyone noticing." Garak smiled innocently before he paused, his face suddenly turning more serious. "Also, I would hope you'd know better than to boil the water. Really, Doctor, I'm surprised at you. Tea needs a little more care and attention than that."
Shaking his head in amusement, Julian couldn't help but grin. Garak was right. His own relatives would have been horrified at the idea of boiling tea or coffee; it was considered very bad form.
