Warning: smooching between two men, yada yada yada.
Disclaimer: Garak and Bashir and DS9 belong
to Paramount. I don't profit, I
just write for fun.
Summary: Heather's Holiday Challenge was
issued, I took it. Julian shows
Garak the joys of Christmas.
"Garak!"
He blinked at the unaccustomed hail: Julian
was practically yelling from
across the Promenade. The young human
hurried to his shop, and burst in with
a huge grin on his face. Garak smiled
back much more sedately. "Can I help
you, Doctor?"
"That depends. Are you interested in furthering
the cause of our little
cultural exchange?" Julian's face still
glowed, but his tone changed to
match Garak's.
"Always, my dear."
"There's a human holiday coming up: Christmas.
Would you like to celebrate
it with me? Captain Sisko is giving all
the Christians two days off, so we
can spend time with our families. Miles
invited me to spend it with them,
but I'd rather spend it with you..." Julian's
enthusiasm was beginning to
build in his voice again, but he paused
to confirm, "If you don't mind?"
Garak chuckled affectionately. "As long
as it doesn't involve anything too
unusual, I'm sure I would be happy to
spend 'Christmas' with you."
Julian grinned and kissed him soundly.
"Come to my quarters for dinner and
I'll tell you all about it."
~~~
"What do garishly decorated trees have
to do with the birth of your god as a
mortal?"
Julian sighed. "Do you want a full history
lesson, or do you want to learn
the story and the traditions?"
"I would like to know how the traditions
grew out of the myth. It doesn't
seem very congruent."
They were on the couch, drinking wine and
kanaar, after dinner and a
preliminary explanation of Christmas.
"That's because in order to convert the
pagans that surrounded them, early
Christians appropriated many of the pagan
traditions and festival times,
integrating them into their own celebrations.
Tree decoration was originally
part of a celebration of the mystery cult
of Cybele in Classical Rome..."
Julian sighed. "Are you sure you want
to hear this?"
"Quite certain, my dear! This does sound
fascinating: in attempting to
convert the pagans, the Christians were
if fact themselves converted. Does
every festival you celebrate have its
roots in paganism?"
"Yes, Garak, but that's not really the
point!" Julian leaned his head on his
hands in frustration. Blocked temporarily
from his view, Garak smiled
fondly. How lovely his face was when it
was flushed with the heat of
argument, how passionate his voice as
he pressed his point.
And surely he knew why Garak did this... "What is the point, doctor?"
"To spend time with the people you love,
and celebrate life. To give of
yourself to them, let them know how important
they are." Julian looked up.
"You know how much I love you, Elim. I
want to spend Christmas showing you."
Garak smiled gently at him and moved closer. "When does Christmas start?"
"Christmas Eve is tomorrow night. I have...
mmm... I have tomorrow and the
next day off." Julian's eyes shut as Garak
nuzzled his throat. "Oh, Elim,
yes..." He wrapped his arms around Garak's
neck, brushing his ridges. The
slim, hard body writhed and squirmed under
the Cardassian as Garak laid him
back on the chesterfield.
"What will you give me as a Christmas present?"
Garak whispered. Julian
moaned softly and began to open his tunic.
"Me."
Garak chuckled. "But Julian, my dear, I
already *have* you! Don't I get
something else?"
Julian glared up at him, holding back a
smile. "How about a text by John
Stofford on the history of the relationship
between paganism and
Christianity, from the first century to
the twenty-fourth?"
"It sounds like a rather lengthy treatise."
"It's five thousand pages contained in twelve paper volumes."
"Oh, my dear, that would be lovely. It
would keep me occupied for at least a
week or two!" He planted a kiss on Julian's
lips to stifle the sarcastic
comment that was obviously forthcoming.
"How long did it take you to read?"
"Two months. But *I* was in medical school,
you arrogant beast, so wipe that
look off your face!" Julian grinned suddenly
and kissed him.
As they kissed Julian worked at the fastenings
of Garak's tunic, taking it
off slowly, groaning at Garak's practised
hands on his own body as his
uniform fell to the floor.
"Elim, let's go to bed."
"Ridiculous, my dear, we just had dinner!"
Garak said cheerfully, squeezing
Julian's rear.
Julian growled. "Please!" he demanded through clenched teeth.
The Cardassian smiled down at him. "Since
you ask so nicely..." He stood
smoothly, holding out a hand to the young
human. "Shall we, my dear?"
Julian took his hand, his eyes shining.
"Merry Christmas, Elim," he
whispered as he led him into the bedroom.
~~~
The End
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