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Quark is gone.
Not dead—at least, not that they’ve been able to prove, and frankly, if anyone could talk themself out of deathly captivity, it would be Quark, though he can talk himself into them just as easily.
Sisko and Dax are out looking for him only since his disappearance is tied to a smuggling ring of great threat to the Federation, and finding them has become a security issue large enough to garner Sisko’s personal attention. A run of the mill problem. Too important for Odo to investigate alone. He’s been assured that he’s done all he can to help, that the only thing left to do is wait for Sisko’s return.
And in the meantime, Quark has been presumed dead, captured by the smuggling ring.
It’s what Odo’s wanted for years now. A station free of Quark and his eternal criminal annoyances. Finally, Odo will be able to achieve some order.
The first few days are exactly as Odo predicted—peace and quiet. An unadulterated relief. No illicit deals to worry about, no nagging requests for advertisement or attempts to bribe, no reports of cheated customers. Bliss.
And then a vague ache begins growing in him, a restlessness he can’t shake.
One evening, he’s facing away from the door in his office, reading a novel–something he’s been able to do in peace thanks to Quark’s absence—when he hears the doors open. A flash of annoyance spits through Odo, and he spins around in his chair with a harsh word on his lips. “Qu—”
He pauses when he spins around and finds Kira in the doorway. Of all things, disappointment fills his being. Unfamiliar .
He shakes it off for now.
It’s a simple law of the universe that when Odo gets bored, needs to take his frustration out on something, or finds his attention wandering from whatever investigation he’s conducting, he goes to bother Quark.
He usually swings by the bar at least three times a day under the pretense of seeing what mischief Quark has gotten himself into.
Some part of him gets antsy and restless when he hasn’t laid eyes on Quark in too long. Simply the urge of the station’s security chief to keep an eye on its most wanton criminal. Nothing wrong with that. It soothes him. Makes him…at ease.
In the days since Quark has been presumed dead, Odo has risen from his desk or departed a vexing senior staff meeting to head towards the bar no less than twenty seven times.
He always stops himself when the realization slams into him that Quark isn’t there and never will be again. His body has likely been thrown into a pile with all the other victims of the smuggling ring, gone and forgotten.
Odo prefers not to fixate on that image.
One evening just before he’ll be retiring to his bucket, weary in body and mind from the day’s work, he gets as far as the entry of the bar before remembering.
Rom is looking at him from the bar, and calls to him, but Odo’s back is already turned to go back to his office. He snaps at one of his new junior security officers who approaches him with a naive question. She quickly scurries away. Part of Odo knows she didn’t deserve it. Most of him doesn’t care.
Quark is gone. You’ll never see so much as the body. The investigation is being conducted by Sisko and you’ve done all you can. It’s over.
And then on one quiet midmorning, he hears Quark is back, alive and mostly well thanks to Doctor Bashir.
He was found with the smuggling ring who took him captive, unhappy customers that they were. Sisko and Dax have returned satisfied with a report to make to their headquarters. Station business is back to normal.
Quark is back.
Odo’s not sure how he feels when Sisko calls him to deliver the news. He’s been so focused on getting used to the idea that Quark is never coming back, Odo never stopped to consider that he might be. Such a thought would be foolish. Counterproductive.
He finally acknowledges the ache in his being that’s been present but ignored ever since Quark went missing. It refuses to be ignored any longer. It’s a call pulling him towards the bar.
The other senior staff met Quark at the airlock, but Odo was in regeneration at the time. He wishes now he’d been there, that he could’ve just gotten it over with in mixed company.
He considers waiting to visit the bar for a few hours in case Quark gets any ideas about Odo being eager to see him. Odo can already hear that ceaseless prattle in his head, mocking sentiments about how much Odo missed him.
And then he curses himself for entertaining such a childish attitude, and rises to his feet.
To no one’s surprise, Quark has been home for an hour and is already back in the bar, scolding Rom for his handling of things, wiping down the bar and insistently going over each bottle to make sure, “No one’s been cheating me.”
He’s in the middle of interrogating Rom about the holosuites when Odo arrives in the doorway. He stays there with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, simply taking in the sight.
At last Quark turns around, finished for now with berating him, and notices Odo. A wide smile lights up his face. He spreads his arms. “I’m back!”
Odo says nothing.
Quark is happy to fill the air. “I should go missing more often if this is the reception it gets me. My pride is bruised, but you wouldn’t believe the kinds of deals I'm going to be able to extract once the Federation gets their hands on the top dog. He’ll be so desperate for latinum, he’ll agree to anything I ask. Not that I need the Federation, of course. If I’d only had a bit more time, I could’ve negotiated them under the table.”
Still, Odo says nothing. He finds that he…can’t seem to think of anything adequate to say, not even the half dozen insults that come to mind. Odo’s not participating in their game. Their back and forth. This is what they do, after all. Insincerity followed by insincerity.
Quark looks at him expectantly. For once, Odo can’t blame him. He’s standing here like an idiot, not saying a thing. “Well, uh, I gotta get back to work. You wouldn’t believe what Rom’s done with the place. Didn’t I tell you that he’d run this place into the ground within a month?”
He heads into his back storeroom. Odo follows, hands clasped behind his back to ensure he doesn’t…hm. He’s not sure, but that restless itch is still present. At least it’s darker and quieter in here, not to mention more private.
“You’ve hardly been gone a month,” Odo says, though it felt like it.
“Try telling that to the strongbox,” Quark grumbles. When he turns to retrieve a different box and bumps into Odo, he snaps, “Odo, what is it? You’re freaking me out. I’ve been back all of an hour, and I know I’m good, but even I couldn’t give myself the credit for coming up with a new way to cheat you within that time.
“I’ve committed no new crimes. If you wanna hear about my terrible tale, talk to Sisko. I’m sure he’d present the events in a more orderly way for you. Will you either tell me what you want or leave me alone? I don’t like this silence.”
Odo doesn’t step back and give him the space he’s asking for. Quark sighs. “You know you’re right in the way.”
Nobody you need concern yourself with, was what Odo said with a roll of the eyes whenever someone new asked after Quark. Pity the individual who was taken in by Quark’s cheap wiles, he’d think whenever Quark managed to pull some new humanoid into hanging off his arm. A worthless little Ferengi rat, he’d been called more than once, and Odo had never disagreed.
So why is it that here in Quark’s storeroom, listening to him prattle on about nonexistent problems and lost profits, is the first time since he was presumed dead that things have felt right? Since Odo has felt normal? Since the ache in the very core of his being made sense, and at last began to ease?
Quark is still looking expectantly up at him. “Odo?”
Odo kisses him.
Quark drops the box he was holding. Something within it clinks dangerously, but Quark pays it no mind. He’s frozen for several moments. Odo, unpracticed at this, at the romantic symbolic gestures of humanoids, at physicalness, freezes too. Unsure of himself, beginning to backwalk everything he’s thought today. This foolish choice that’ll have Quark laughing for weeks.
But just as he begins pulling back, Quark throws his arms around Odo’s neck and kisses him back hard, with a zeal Odo never dared hope for. The itch in Odo’s being goes quiet. The world narrows only to this moment, alone with Quark in his storeroom, taking in the smell of his terrible strong cologne that Odo has always hated. Smelling it now feels like coming home.
When Quark pulls back, he sounds awed. He looks awed. He looks like he’s staring at the biggest pile of latinum ever seen and been told it’s all his. “You missed me.” He’s breathless with awe, as well. That sound alights something nameless within Odo, something he’s never felt before.
“Shut up,” he retorts in a tone of deep gravel, watching Quark shiver. Quark’s hands drift a little lower to rest on his shoulders. Odo is acutely aware of every move, every touch of those fingers against his form.
“No, you really did miss me, didn’t you.” Quark sounds delighted now, but not in his usual nefarious way. Rather, he sounds just as innocently happy as any humanoid Odo has ever seen in love. “How many times did you walk by the bar without remembering I wasn’t there? You can see now why Rom is so—“
Odo kisses him again to shut him up. My, he’s found a rather effective means of doing so, solving one of his most annoying problems.
When he pulls back this time, Quark’s mouth is still open, heaving for breath. Odo tilts his head.
“Nothing like I thought it’d feel like,” Quark mutters. “You…those wax lips…”
“You’ve thought about this before?” Odo means for it to come out scathing, mocking, but he sounds curious in a vulnerable sort of way to his own ears.
Quark grows defensive before his eyes. “Well, it’s clear you have.” He tries to pull away, but Odo holds fast.
“I…did miss you, Quark.” He lets it hang in the air a moment, watches Quark’s face go blissfully blank again, then adds, “But if you ever repeat that to anyone, I’ll have your head.”
Quark only smiles. “You’d miss it too much. Order needs chaos to keep it busy. If I were gone, you’d be so bored, you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself.”
He leans up and gives Odo another kiss of his own, and Odo sighs and wraps his arms around his waist. “I, uh, really do have to get back to work now,” Quark says with a smile of regret. “I’ll see you later, though. Feel free to stop by anytime. The bar’s always open. I’m not going anywhere.”
That familiar ache in Odo’s being is soothed by those words, that touch of Quark playing idly with his lapel. What is it those humans are always saying? You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. That’s never been quite so apparent until now.
He parts from Quark with more difficulty than he imagined, but his spirits are lifted by the thought of returning later tonight and seeing what Quark has to offer him. Always something new and different and equally outlandish. Perhaps this time, Odo will accept. “I’m not going anywhere either, Quark. You’d best remember that.”
Instead of the threat it was meant to be, Quark chuckles as if Odo has offered some sweet nothing. “Oh, I will, Odo. I will.”