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“I can’t believe I’m going to have to deal with two shapeshifters on this station,” Quark muttered, glowering at the puddle of goo in front of him. (He was very carefully not thinking about the possibility of changeling infiltrators.) Odo, for his part, was smiling widely at his new protégé. He was so busy spending time with the infant changeling lately, he’d barely even stepped into the bar to glare at Quark this week.
“This is Quark,” Odo cooed to the changeling. “He’s a troublemaker, but he did find you and bring you to me, so for that I have to thank him.”
“You’re sure it can hear you?” Quark asked, raising a brow at the inert puddle sitting on the table.
“It is at least aware of our presence,” said Odo. “I was conscious of every minute I spent in Dr. Mora’s lab.” He frowned bitterly. “Unfortunately."
“You sure have a grudge against that guy,” Quark needled Odo. He’d never heard the full story of Dr. Mora and Odo, and he disliked being left out of the loop. Odo merely harrumphed in response. Quark pursed his lips, then heard the swish of the door opening and looked up to see Dr. Mora himself. “Speak of the devil!”
“Hello, Quark,” Dr. Mora greeted him with a smile and a nod, still under the impression that Quark was an innocuous, friendly bartender. Quark allowed himself a small smirk.
Dr. Mora’s face fell somewhat when he turned to Odo, who was conspicuously ignoring him. “I was just looking over last night’s results. I’m afraid you’ve made no progress, again.”
“It’s only been a few days,” said Odo curtly, still not looking at Dr. Mora. “I’m prepared to be patient.”
“Patience or no patience, there’s absolutely no indication your methods will produce results, regardless of how much time passes.”
“What’s the matter? Getting bored without a changeling who can still shift shapes to entertain you?” Odo snorted, turning to face Dr. Mora.
“I’m telling you, Odo, it won’t learn to change shape without incentive to do so! If it weren’t for my methods, you’d still be nothing more than an unknown sample! My methods made you who you are!” Then Dr. Mora sneered. The effect was a bit chilling, Quark thought. “Unless you were abnormally defective in your shape shifting ability.”
“Well, he’s good enough to fool me,” Quark laughed placatingly, and was ignored.
“Of course you would say it’s my fault!” Odo practically shouted. His newly humanoid face was actually going a bit pink. “How do you know it wasn’t your barbaric methods that made me so bad at shapeshifting?! Maybe it was one too many electric shocks, a setting too high on that centrifuge—“
“Um, maybe we shouldn’t fight in front of the baby?” Quark tried and failed to cut in.
“If you knew anything about your own biology, you would realize that is utter nonsense!” Dr. Mora fumed. “But I’m the one who dedicated myself to studying you! You need me to move this project forward!”
Odo crossed his arms over himself and turned his body away. “What I need is for you to leave me alone!”
“Fine,” Dr. Mora said softly, after an awkward pause during which Quark looked between Odo, whose back was to Quark, and Dr. Mora, whose face was still twisted up with malice, with bated breath. “When you’re ready to discuss our options without throwing a temper tantrum, I’ll be here.” Then he stormed out.
“Sheesh,” Quark breathed, watching the door slide shut. Odo said nothing, and Quark turned to look at him. He was unnerved to find that Odo was shaking, and his arms were still crossed, head bowed.
“Odo?” No response. Quark frowned and walked around to get a better look at him. He couldn’t hide his shock at what he saw. Odo’s face, usually eerily smooth, had crumpled, and his breaths were uneven and shallow, on the verge of hiccups. “Odo! Snap out of it!”
“I—I—“ Odo was trying to speak, but his voice kept cracking. He raised his hands suddenly to clutch at his throat, blinking rapidly. “I can’t—breathe—“
“Hold on,” said Quark, watching as a two tears dripped from Odo’s left eye, one after the other. “You’re only crying. Listen, you’ll be fine, just calm down!”
He swore as Odo started to gasp for air, looking increasingly panicked. “Here, give me—” he grabbed one of Odo’s hands from his neck and held it against the front of his vest. “Feel how I’m breathing in and out? Slowly? Solids have to do that, remember?”
Odo stared at him, still wheezing, then closed his eyes and began to take stuttering breaths in time with Quark’s own exhalations. Quark had to suppress a shiver of disgust when he saw that not only were tears leaking from Odo’s eyes, but his nose had started to run as well.
“Rom used to cry all the time when we were kids,” Quark muttered, desperate to fill the awkward silence between Odo’s sniffles. “He’d get so worked up he’d pass out if one of us didn’t remind him to breathe.”
Odo shuddered again and choked on what sounded like a sob. His free hand, which had settled in a fist in front of his heart, went to his neck again. Quark sighed, looking to the ceiling. “The more you hold it back, the worse your throat is gonna ache.”
Odo must have been paying attention, because the choked off noises he’d been making became sobs. He was producing a truly prolific amount of snot, Quark noted with a grimace. He let go of Odo’s hand on his chest to reach in his pocket for a handkerchief, but Odo’s fingers had fisted in the material of the vest and stayed where they were. He held the tissue in front of Odo’s face, but Odo’s eyes barely flickered to it before he went back to bawling. With a grunt of annoyance, Quark had to rub the cloth pointedly over Odo’s shiny cheeks before Odo took the hint and started doing it himself.
Odo’s breathing was evening out, but now his lower lip was still trembling and his eyes were rimmed with red. Not to mention his hand was still gripping Quark’s vest. Quark shifted, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the ache developing in his chest underneath Odo’s grasp. The last time Odo had been this upset, it was over finding out Kira was involved with Shakaar.
Of course, it was at the very moment he caught Odo staring forlornly after Kira that he came to the unfortunate realization that he was staring forlornly after Odo. Well done, Quark; you always did know how to pick ‘em.
That was a year ago, and he thought he'd moved on since then. But seeing Odo like this was awakening a need to wrap the biggest thorn in his side in a blanket and press their noses together and rub soothing circles into his back--a perverse desire far more disturbing than any of Quark's usual late night fantasies. Time to run from the problem. “Can I go now?” He said brusquely, gesturing to the hand over his heart. Odo blinked at him, then withdrew the hand and used it to wipe at his nose.
“I’ll uh, see you later,” Quark said over his shoulder as he fled the lab. Odo’s face was buried in his handkerchief.
Dr. Mora was sitting on a bench on the Promenade when Quark passed by a few minutes later. When Dr. Mora raised a hand to wave, Quark couldn’t help himself from hissing loudly at him before scampering off.