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“My dear, what are we doing here?” Elim calls as he glances around the darkened room, only for the sun to suddenly come out in full force. Julian giggles a little as Garak blinks a few times, not quite able to handle the brightness of the sun at first. Then his gaze comes into focus, eyes widening slightly in what Julian feels is well-earned surprise. He has had Felix make them a summer wonderland. “We’re celebrating my mastery of Tongo and reaping the rewards of my victory.” Julian says as he holds up two cups he’s carefully balancing on top of each other, a bottle of Andorrian champagne under his arm. Julian twists around so he can throw his free arm out, showing the wide expanse of green and a swirl of colors that make up the scene. There’s even a willow tree for them to sit under, its leaves swaying back and forth in the wind invitingly. Elim’s eyes widen again, hands going slack at his side. Julian would be offended if he wasn’t too busy being smug. “You beat Quark in Tongo?” “You don’t need to sound so surprised, love. I don’t know if you knew this, but I am brilliant.” Julian reminds him with a smirk as he twists around on one ankle, reaching his arm out to jab Elim in the chest. Elim ducks before Julian can hit him, not a single hair out of place as he starts inspecting the flowers instead of Julian. And when he had Jadzia pick out his outfit and everything. “I was well aware, I just thought Quark was better at cheating than you. He couldn’t find anything to throw you off your game?” Elim raises an eye ridge as he saunters down the garden path toward Julian, gaze flickering across the blossoms with undisguised interest. Julian grins brightly, feeling a little pround when Elim stops in front of particularly colorful array of wildflowers. Elim runs a hand over one of the petals, a soft, almost imperceptible smile coming over his face. Julian comes to stand by his side, running his free hand over Elim’s on top of the flowers. “Not quickly enough to beat me. Oh, he tried, but they were all things I’m long past and he couldn’t say much about you and I think he was too nice to try anything with my enhancements.” Julian answers with a lopsided smile, tilting his head to the right. Elim stares back at him his eye ridges pressed together in a way that suggests he doesn’t think Julian’s entirely right, but that he also doesn’t think necessarily wrong. “And in exchange for letting him keep my winnings, we get to use this holosuite every night for free for the foreseeable future.” Elim presses his mouth into a thin line, shaking his head back and forth with a look of indulgence. He sounds faintly amused when he speaks, even as he tries to sound annoyed. “You didn’t think we might find better uses for all that latinum?” “I couldn’t think of one at the time. So welcome Elim, to Bloomsbury Garden.” Julian slides his arm through Garak’s so his body is pressed up against his side, their fingers intertwining as they follow the winding path to the willow tree. Julian stops them in front of the blanket he’s spread out, a soft white to contrast the deep green of the grass. Julian impulsively presses a kiss to Garak’s mouth, and then another and another until Garak starts walking him backwards towards the blanket. “You brought books.” Elim murmurs as he glances past Julian to the pile of padds at the foot of the blanket, next to a picnic basket filled with utterly decadent things Julian’s not even sure they’ll get to this time. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. “We could hardly go to Bloomsbury garden without Woolf or Shelley. I brought Eliot too, just in case.” Julian tuts from where he’s now lounging on the soft velvet of the blanket, ankles crossed and holding himself up on one hand. He grins rakishly and wonders if he should start with reading Elim romantic poetry or passages from Frankenstein. Julian suspects he might even like some of it. Elim idly runs a hand across Julian’s curls, leaving them in a disarray as he considers the author. They’ve read Virginia Woolf together before, and Julian thinks Garak almost at least admired her devotion to her family and the social scene, if not her tendency towards what he rather hypocritically called melodrama. “No Shakespeare?” “Not this time my dear. Maybe next time we can watch a play at the Globe.”Julian assures him as he reaches his free arm out towards Elim, looking up at him through his lashes. Garak scoffs low in his throat but takes the hand and slowly descends to his knees before sliding up against Julian’s side so they’re both stretched out across the blanket. Julian curls up into the space between them letting his head rest on Elim’s broad chest. “Anywhere but Vic’s.” Elim’s voice is just a touch too even for that to be simple indifference to the holoprogram, his grip on Julian’s hair growing tighter for half a second. Julian wonders when he started to learn Garak’s tells. “You don’t like Vic’s?” Julian nuzzles into Garak’s side more, voice amused and curious at the same time. Then a sense of delight runs through him, lifting his head up so he can look Garak in the eye. His voice is practically a sing-song when he speaks this time. “Are you jealous?” Elim rolls his eyes in a way that suggests he is, though the almost wounded look he gives Julian a moment later makes him wonder if it’s over Vic or something else entirely. “There’s no challenge to it and your friend there never stops talking.”Julian lets his head fall back against Garak’s chest, hand coming up rest across his chest as well. He does want to dance with Elim someday, but lying here together in the sweet summer air is nice too. He wouldn’t mind doing this with Elim for the rest of their unnaturally long lives. “Fine then, where would you like to go?” “We could finally do one of the Enigma Tales you always ignore so staunchly.” Elim suggests with a wide grin, eyes sparkling with mirth when Julian can’t stop the shudder that runs through him at that. Enigma Tales are alway grim and overbearing, and Julian has quite enough of that in his real life. Elim leans in, voice almost a whisper. “Or barring that, maybe we can borrow Commander Dax’s program with the Trillian baths.” “Baths? Not much of a challenge there either, Elim.” Julian scoffs as he flops more over Garak’s chest, stretching his arm out to grab one of the glasses. Garak raises an eyebrow and sits up just enough to grab the bottle of champagne, dislodging Julian slightly with the effort. “You’re not being creative enough, my dear. I can think of plenty of challenges to keep us occupied.” Elim mutters in a soft voice as he leans over so he and Julian are looking eye to eye, popping the bottle in time with the word challenge. Julian smirks wickedly as he cuddles up closer to Garak’s side. He thinks he might have brought the wrong type of poetry.