#like it mugged me

[lorenzobane]

Emotional Support Lizard

Summary: Julian is a bit upset, and Garak is determined to help.

(On AO3 Here)

Julian is actually, Garak thinks, fairly easy to care for emotionally. When his ego has been bruised, he wants someone to drink with and listen to him complain. When he's angry for some morally self-righteous reason, he wants to rant, rave, and be sanctimonious for a bit. When he's bored, you just need to run him like a riding hound. Garak's become an expert at random, lengthy, energy-draining tasks to keep in his back pocket for when Julian starts to fidget.

He's also honest, willing to just say what he needs when he's hungry or tired or wants a hug. Garak appreciates it more than he can express because trying to learn to be emotionally supportive of someone for the first time in his life at the tender age of fifty seems like a daunting task.

He reminds himself of this now because he's hit the one circumstance when Julian is not easy. He's upset, truly upset about something, though Garak cannot say what. Garak can tell because he's hardly spoken all night, pulling sharply into himself. He can also tell because Julian currently has three PADDs downloading what appear to be roughly 154 different journal articles. He isn't planning on sleeping.

Garak's tried everything, offered to get weeknight drunk on spring wine, to play a board game, sex (which Julian almost never refuses), and it had all been met with a bland, tired, "perhaps another night."

"My dear," Garak hesitates, watching Julian peck at his already light dinner with disinterest. "Are you... Are you alright?"

It burns him a little, being forced to ask so bluntly. He cannot help but be furious with himself at his inability to predict what Julian needs.

Julian gives him a glance and a fake smile. "Of course, love. I'm sorry; I'm clearly a bit distracted. I think I'm going to read in the library."

The library, as they called it, is more of an office that they sometimes used when they had urgent work that had to be done from home. The room was split into two sides, Garak's and Julian's, but they shared a broad catalog of leisure books that they kept in the same room.

Garak bites his lip, "you've hardly eaten."

Julian looks at his still mostly full plate. "I'll keep it in stasis and eat it later. I'm not hungry right now."

Garak nods and inclines his head, not sure what else to say when Julian takes his plate and leaves. As soon as Julian's turned the corner, he dropped his head into his hands. What could possibly be upsetting him this much? Was something wrong at work?

Or perhaps, a cold voice whispers in his ear, he's upset with you. Perhaps he's no longer happy in your home; maybe he regrets that lovely joining necklace on his neck. Maybe he's been thinking about a divorce, about leaving.

Garak feels the room closing in a bit around him and takes a deep breath, grounding himself in the feel of the chair under his lap and the sour-sweet scent of zabu stew. He's being irrational. It probably has nothing to do with him; when Julian is upset, it is nearly always work-related. All Garak needs to do is find out what.

Carefully puts his dish away, gets himself a cup of tea and his private PADD, and sets about hacking into the hospital's files.

Garak absent-mindedly flipped through Julian's most recent case files, taking a long drag of tea. Nothing so far, a few surgeries that went well, a bit of post-op care for others, nothing that jumps out at Garak as being unusually bad. He switches to security camera footage for the main areas of the hospital (there are no, Garak notes with irritation, cameras inside the hospital rooms). He scrolls through the footage at 2.5x the speed, watching Julian go about his day, casually flipping through medical charts and going from patient to patient before leaving to scrub in at the OR.

Garak ponders this and decides it probably isn't work-related. Taking a last stab, he checks Julian's message box. Mostly emails from Ezri Dax, Miles O'Brien, and Kira Nerys, with roughly 200 promotional emails from Quark's. He's about to give up hope when he sees an email Julian has marked as Important from South Rixx General Hospital.

Garak clicks it immediately and begins scanning the message. His eyes widen the further down he gets, and he quickly reads the rest of the messages in the thread. Once he gets to the end, he sits back heavily. Why didn't Julian just tell him?

It appears Julian's father, Richard Bashir had contracted a serious, potentially life-threatening infection while on Betazed a few months ago. Julian had been consulting with the hospital, trying to help. The last message, the one Julian received today, stated that Richard was responding slowly to treatment and the prognosis did not look encouraging.

As far as Garak can tell, Julian's relationship with his parents is complicated and emotionally fraught. He had met them several times, in fact. Both in person, when they've either traveled to Earth, or on Cardassia Prime when they've come to visit. They've even taken one incredibly painful family vacation to Ailsa IV. Julian calls them every two weeks, and they have a strained chat where Garak gets to see Julian do a phenomenal performance of Julian Bashir.

Despite how much Julian rages about his father and mother and how tense their relationship is, Garak knows they love each other. That is, in Garak's view, the precise problem.

He puts the PADD down and thinks. Garak would bet his left foot that those journal articles Julian was downloading, and is no doubt tearing through now, are related to his father's illness.

He gets up and walks to the library, "Julian, my dear?"

"Hm?" Julian replies, he has a PADD in one hand, and the other is tapping on the larger monitor running a calculation.

Garak hedges, "I'm worried about you."

"I'm perfectly fine, Garak," Julian replies a bit sharply.

"I'm sure you are, but still, you'll have to forgive me... This is all a bit out of character. Can you at least tell me what this is about?"

Julian sighs and rubs a beautiful hand across his face. "Just... A personal project."

"My love," Garak says, looking at him as sweetly as he knows how and pulling his lips into a soft pout, "you can tell me anything. Am I not, after all, your family?"

Julian's face softens, and he places a hand on Garak's cheek, "of course you are. Of course, speaking of family actually-- that is--"

Julian abruptly cuts himself off. "You already know, don't you?"

Garak licks his lips, "of course not. I haven't the faintest idea--"

"Oh, spare me," Julian spits. "You're trying to manipulate me into telling you something you already know. For what? A sense of accomplishment on this fine evening? Well, bloody, fine, my dad is sick, and I'm trying to fix it. Which you already fucking knew. Now please leave."

"What?" Garak gasps sincerely. "No! Julian, please. I am worried; I just want to be there for you. I wanted to help."

"You can't hack into my private files every time you want to help me! Some things are personal!"

"Too personal to share with me? Your husband? Who promised to honor and serve you for the rest of your life?" Garak says this a bit desperately, he knows, but it is nonetheless true.

"I needed time to process how I felt!" Julian takes a deep breath before whispering, "I would have told you, Elim. I would have. I wish you had trusted me to."

The room grows quiet for a moment before Garak stiffens up and coughs slightly. "Apologies, my dear. For overstepping. I'll leave you to your work."

Julian watches him steadily; he can feel his eyes on his back before Julian lets out a sigh. "Oh, come here then."

Garak turns sharply and is pulled into Julian's warm embrace.

"There must be something seriously wrong with me," Julian says, his voice a little softer and warmer. "But I suppose it is sweet how much you want to help. You're all sentiment under those scales, aren't you?"

Garak harumphs, "there is no need to be rude. I was simply--"

"I recommend you tread very carefully and remember that I am choosing to find this charming."

"I was simply being terribly, terribly sweet. An excellent husband."

Julian chuckles against Garak's ear. "Good choice."

"So," Garak asks, a bit softer. "Will you be coming to bed?"

Julian hesitates; his body goes slightly tense against Garak's before he relaxes again. "Yes, I will. Let's go."

Garak thrills a little at the victory, despite the minor stumble. Perhaps he can convince Julian that it was all a part of the plan.

[time-speculo]

I like Miitopia, I love Drawfee, banger combo

[caveiratimida]

I really wish the Zillo Beast had gobbled up Chancellor Palpetine. It might not solve all the problems of the world but it would have been a great big help.

[kyurochurro]

been sooooo tired from college so here’s an equally tired bones and Spock taking a coffee and tea break :”D

[nullapophenia]

critter loop...........

[deadsetobsessions]

There’s a child wandering the streets of Crime Alley. Unfortunately, this is nothing new for the area, riddled with crime and homelessness as it is. However, Red Hood and Nightwing are vigilantes and helping lost looking children is firmly in their job description. Plus, Crime Alley is Red Hood’s. He protects what’s his. With a single shared look, the brothers swung down to the child clad in just a white dress and some thin flats completely unsuitable for Gotham’s worsening weather. Hell it’s be unsuitable for the general poor weather.

“Hey, kiddo.”

The girl’s head swung to lock gazes with the duo, eyes blinking blue- and green? Red Hood allowed his brother- he worked so hard to beat down the pit madness in order for Nightwing to even remain near- to take the lead.

“Oh. There you are.” She said, turning to face them fully. The kid’s face filled with relief.

Nightwing blinked.

“You were looking for us?” His soft voice saved for children firmed into something more serious, more concerned.

“Mmhm. I was looking for Red Hood, but you’re a good bonus.”

“And why were you looking for me, kid?” Red Hood interjects. He knows Dickolas is clocking the same things he is: the kid’s white whispy hair, pale face, and… Lazarus green eyes? It’s more solid now, that she’s looking at Jason.

Dick straightened, eyes going heavy as he looks at this wisp of a girl. He’s fiercely protective of Jason and they’re both equally wary of the League of Assassins. Still, the two of them couldn’t help but let their guard down a bit because this was still a child they’re talking to.

“Because… um. Did you know you’ve died?”

Hood stiffened, hand going towards his guns. Granted, they’re rubber bullets, but the kid clocks that immediately. She threw her hands up in the universal gesture of “I’m unarmed and mean no harm.”

“I- well, to put it frankly, you kind of… stink?”

“What.”

“Ugh, I’m totally messing this up!”

“Why don’t you start again?” Dick said, shifting into a subtler fighting stance. He kept his voice light, but Jason saw the way his hands inched towards the scrims sticks. Distantly, Jason thought it was hilarious that this tiny kid could evoke that kind of response. Looking into Lazarus green eyes though, he couldn’t find the humor anywhere. The worst thing, though, is that the pit quieted. The rage the bubbled incessantly underneath his skin calmed. Jason did not like feeling bereft of the rage, not when he didn’t know why it was gone. He had just gained control of it, minimally, and to have that control be unnecessary left the vigilantes off kilter.

“Right, okay, sorry. Um, did you, uh, die and wake up surrounded by glowing green stuff?”

Before Jason could reply ‘yes, and why the hell do you know that?’, the kid continued with, “Because me too!”

She did jazz hands as Jason’s and Dick’s brains short circuited. Jason thought he even heard a little “yay!”

“What.” Jason sputtered out. His stomach and heart clenched as he thought about how young the kid looked. Fuck.

“Yeah. So, anyways-”

“Don’t speed past that like you didn’t say what you just said!” Dick interrupted, hand tugging at his hair in distress. His body language slipped from battle ready to extremely distressed. “You died?”

“You were- you were dipped in the Lazarus pits?!” Jason felt the need to address that specific point.

“I mean, it’s not that important? The important thing is- wait, what’s a Lazarus pit?”

Jason froze again. She didn’t know what they were?

“It’s… the glowing green stuff.” Dick answered her.

“Oh. Is that what you were dipped in?” She tilted her head at Jason. He nodded, wariness climbing. “Oh. Well, I mean, that’s not we call it. But the stuff you were dipped in, it’s rank. Contaminated.”

Jason thinks back to the burning, drowning green. The agony he felt as it slipped into his mouth and nose and his very being.

“It was bubbling.” He said. The girl grimaced. Jason had no idea why he was being so honest with this kid.

“Gross. Anyways, I can, like, help you with that?”

“With what?” Dick asked, eyes darting from the girl to Jason.

The girl groaned. “Okay, so I guess you guys are kind of new. Uh, the contaminated green stuff,” she points at Jason’s chest. “That’s making you angry, right? Leaving you in the backseat of your head as your body breaks whatever got you angry to begin with and you have no control over it?”

“…The pit madness.” Jason mumbled, feeling numb. “Yeah.”

“…Right. I can help you clear that out,” she pauses, fidgeting. “If… If you help me talk to Batman? It’s kind of… urgent.”

“Batman?”

“Why?”

“Uh. There’s kind of… a whole mad scientist thing going on and like… experimentation and dissections… you know?” The kid waved her arms around, distressed.

Dick and Jason unfortunately did know.

“Cave?” Jason grumbled.

“Cave.”

“Okay, we’ll bring you to the cave. Then you tell us everything.”

“Really?”

She looked up at them hopefully, and Jason could see the moment Dickolas melted. Not that Jason could say anything, since he was already taking off his jacket and bundling the kid in it.

“Um.”

“Who the hell let you walk around Gotham like that?” He scowled down at her, not that she could see it with the red helmet in the way. Dick looked at him carefully, eyes roving over the oddly relaxed state his little wing was in.

The kid shrugged. Jason sighs.

“What’s your name?” Dick asked. Scooping her up, the blue and black clad raised his free arm to grapple away. Jason follows him, heading towards the motorcycles they’ve got parked nearby.

“Dani. With an I.”

“Nice to meet you, Dani. I’m Nightwing. This is my… this is Red Hood.”

“Okay. Cool.”



[batshaped]

morning people

[mobius-m-mobius]

If it’s all the same to you… I’ll have that drink now.

[darkerthanblack-666]

[claypigeonpottery]

I tried a few new things with this one. I can’t wait to see it fired

[amugoffandoms]

Desire, bestow, and desire again The episode reloading on an endless loop The fading warmth makes me anxious again Tear drops succumb and fall

flash warning (like seriously, flash warning, the lights actually flash) under the cut + some in-between shots

[phytsera]

the infernal engine of karlach cliffgate 🔥🫀⚙️

[teisubrainrot]

matching icons for you and your reason to live

[ginkashino]

quark drinking from the fucked up odo mug

comms

[lunee-bat]

Guess what I had art block and made a kid for my notp and now the art block’s fixed and I got a free au out of it

(there’s more weird art under the cut)

Common whizbang w

She’s a cervitaur bc I’m embracing the cringe and thought Lucifer’s wack genetics would meet up with Alastor’s and remember Charlie’s and say “let’s square the hooves on this one!!” so here we are

Anyway,,,enemies to coparents shenanigans,,

They’re trying their best

I promise,,

[crunchchute]

Mr. Raglan