A Collection of Julian Bashir One-Shots

The Cyclical Sunset

Summary: Julian takes you on a date that's meant to be lighthearted and romantic. But as things kick off, you realize you finally have to admit one of your more embarrassing fears to him.

***

"Are we almost there?" I asked, and Julian squeezed my hand. We'd been walking for some time and I couldn't see a thing with this blindfold on.

"Almost!" he said eagerly, tugging me forward a couple more steps. I trotted along beside him. "Okay... one more thing."

"What's that?" I asked, slowing to a stop as I felt Julian come to a halt himself. I felt him step up towards me, his presence very obvious before he slid his hands around my waist and began to lean in. I smiled, unable to hold back my excitement as he gently pressed a kiss to my soft lips. Kissing him would never get old. And I was sort of liking the fact that my blindfold made it difficult to anticipate what he would do next.

His hands slowly inched up my sides during the kiss and my skin prickled, unsure of what exactly he was doing, until his fingers shot up towards my armpits and began to tickle at the sensitive skin. I yelped and immediately turned to jello in an attempt to get away. Julian held me fast though, locking me into the torture and forcing me up against him. If it weren't for the sensory overload I would have loved it.

"Julian... Julian stop!" I giggled, wriggling around in his grasp and slowly going limp in the knees. My legs crumbled underneath me in an attempt to get away like that, but he no intentions of letting up. He followed me to the ground, not giving up until I was rolling around in the grass with shrieks of laughter pushing past my lips.

It wasn't until Julian was fully on top of me that he paused a moment to let me regain my breath, and he poised his fingers menacingly against my inner arm. I whined, pushing my hips up against him and trying to get him to forget it.

"Stooop, you win," I declared, and Julian chuckled as he gave in and let go of me.

"Do you want your eyesight back?" he asked gently. I nodded and he reached up to pull off the white blindfold.

Once I could see again I blinked up at Julian who was grinning smugly at me from above. He looked rather pleased with himself.

"I can't believe you'd terrorize a blind woman," I teased, still a little breathless.

"Only if I knew she'd like it," he laughed. I smiled, reaching up to touch his face.

"So what's going on, anyway," I asked as I curved my fingers down to his jaw.

"Look to your right," he said with a grin. I turned my head to the side and peered at my surroundings, before it hit me and I felt silly for not noticing it the moment he took my blindfold off. We were in a large plain, and sitting only a couple yards away was a wooden basket that could hold at least three people and a big, colorful, bulbous balloon sprouting up from the top.

"A hot air balloon?" I asked, dumbfounded. Julian nodded.

"I know you wanted to go somewhere fancier than earth for our shore leave, but I didn't want to bring you to Cait because of the Kzinti skirmishes reported from the Lyncis system," Julian explained. "So I wanted to make it up to you by calling in a favor."

"Who do you know who has a hot air balloon?" I asked, completely enchanted. This seemed like a high profile favor.

"Graduating as Salutatorian and being captain of the Starfleet Academy racquetball team gives you some impressive contacts," he boasted. I smiled. He was a braggart, but he was a cute braggart.

I swallowed, looking over at the hot air balloon. It was so... romantic. Flying over the plains of Ireland, the country we'd decided to stay in, felt enchanting in theory. In theory. But I tried to push down any nervousness. This was going to be great. Alone time with Julian, in the sky, with that scenery... I'd probably forget all about how high up we'd be.