Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
Love how Garak will slip some little tidbit of political gossip to Bashir, tucked discreetly in a napkin, or folded into oragami and delivered with delicate conversation over rokassa juice.
And Julian (who fancies himself such a spy) takes that information that he only one quarter understands, and he goes busting into Sisko’s office while he’s video-canoodling with Dukat like, “Y'ALL WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT I JUST HEARD”
Star Trek DS9 S02 E05 is killing me for many reasons but most of all for Bashir being like “But Commander, my spy friend said” while he has no fucking clue what Garak is doing but just following his hunch that Garak is a good guy so it’s gonna be fine. Probably.
More incredibly specific DS9 thoughts. But I think if they were going to do the whole genetic augment thing for Julian and wanted to show him as a genius, instead of the random math tricks, they should have shown him as just like… being really good at languages, and memorizing literature/music instead.
Because that would have made more sense for his character, ya know? Like, Julian has shown a consistent interest in those things- so it would have felt less like they were trying to make him the “Data” of the show and more like they were expanding an already existing character trait. Imagine if instead of fast math, he revealed that he learned how to speak Cardassian and Klingon for fun years ago? AND that could have been an interesting plot point- Worf is like?? You speak Klingon?? And Julian could have pulled a “What? Like it’s hard?”
I think it would have been way more fun and probably annoyed the actor less because it’s a different “type” of genius than Trek normally does.
An underrated character dynamic that should have existed between Jake and Julian is like…. Jake is a writer, so he would TOTALLY use Julian as a source on medical things in books like
Jake: so let’s say, hypothetically, a Vulcan got shot in the abdomen…
Julian, laughing slightly: okay, so what would happen is…. (Long rambling description)
can’t stop thinking about Garak’s arc in A Stitch in Time - this view of himself as incurably sentimental, as soft almost (I’m thinking of the way his relatively low pain tolerance is treated, if only by him, as a softness/weakness also), almost not-quite-masculine-enough, and how everyone around him sees this as a weakness he “inherited” if only via nurture from Tolan.
The flip side is that he’s a good operative because he’s good at connecting with people, and watching the show through that lens you can see this as a kind of almost warmth of personality, right? Which isn’t a word a non-Cardassian would use to describe a Cardassian, usually, but Garak is friendly, even though it tends to come across as suspicious. But he’s much more extroverted and chatty than almost any other Cardassian we see, even while claiming to cling so tightly to Cardassian ideals.
And look, obviously there are some connections to be made here with his queerness and how that might be received, given the Cardassian focus on biological family, which I’d really like to think about. In a sense, Garak is unable to fully access Cardassian views of masculinity, which is obviously a queer narrative, especially when given to a canon queer character. Right now, though, mainly I’m thinking about how he writes to Julian “we’re so different, Doctor”.
But everything that happens in this book reinforces that, in fact, they are just exactly the same. And of course Garak latches on to this shiny naive friendly bleeding-heart Federation doctor. And of course he tries to convince him to stop being so sentimental and soft and outgoing (because look how that ended for Garak).
And of course, also, he’s perhaps a little disappointed when Julian does. “Not so boyish anymore, Doctor”, huh, yeah, how does that make you feel, Garak. How does it make you feel that the man you were so drawn to has lost so many of the qualities that drew you to him, just like you did? How does it make you feel to watch him go through the same pain you did, and withdraw from his emotions just like you did? And then lose touch with him, and so that’s where the story ends for you both. No wonder he couldn’t stop himself writing the world’s longest “what WERE we?” letter.
Oh god I have so many! I’ll drop a few random ones down here, but if someone wants something more specific/ fic ideas feel free to ask!
- Garak actually takes a lot of genuinely joy and pleasure in doing household chores, and enjoys packing Julian lunch every day. He’s just a big “acts of service” guy, and his primal lizard brain gets off on making sure his partner is fed and safe
- Contrary to popular opinion, Garak is by far the one who prefers to be submissive in bed. I mean we see through the whole show that anyone who tries to flex their authority on Julian just pisses him off… meanwhile, garak’s reaction to Odo yelling at him and Sisko extorting him is….. different.
- Julian “first in his class in pediatrics” Bashir is an absolute goofball with his kids, and also just cannot shut the fuck up about them. All of his nurses know literally everything about them because he talks about their accomplishments during surgery. Every time his kids visit the hospital, the staff is like “wow! Heard about your science fair project” and they’re like “UGH DAD!”
- Julian has an absolutely ludicrous 27 step skin routine that Garak makes fun of but still watches him complete all 27 steps every night. He claims it’s for “research on the vanity of human males” but it’s really because he enjoys watching Julian do normal domestic things because he never really imagined himself sharing a life with anyone.
- Garak has a lot of nightmares of people doing to Julian what he did to people when he was in the Obsidian Order, and knows losing something this important is what he deserves for his crimes. But absolutely ISN’T what Julian deserves so he has like 15 trackers on Julian at any given moment.
- I also think it took like 10 years of marriage for garak to actually get even somewhat used to the fact that someone loves him (my poor sad lizard). He never takes a single second for granted.
Anyway here are some cutesy ones off the top of my head because I’m insane! What do you guys think?
Me, having no concept of liking things in moderation: I would die a thousand deaths for you
If I may present a twist on last year’s meme
[IMG ID: Left Image: Ben Sisko and Julian Bashir. Ben’s hand is on Julian’s shoulder. They are standing very close and looking into each other’s eyes. The caption reads “My Spring Break Plans.” Right Image: Ben Sisko surrounded by the bright white light of the Prophets. The caption reads “Omicron” END ID]
DS9 companion quote from Sid. “O'Brien and Bashir didn’t get along back then. They loved not getting along. Over the course of the episodes, Colm and I developed the relationship purely out of what we thought we’d most enjoy hating about each other. And after that we were forever doing the same stuff to each other off set as we did on set, making life hell for each other, in the nicest possible way.”
