Darts as a metaphor for gay sex between Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir
Yes, I'm serious. Bear with me.
Miles and Julian first play darts in season three, episode 16, "Prophet Margin."
They are playing darts because Julian was getting tired of racquetball—since Miles's wife has been away, they have played 106 games of racquetball. ("Rivals," the episode where we first see them play racquetball, make a strong case for that being a sexual metaphor as well. So basically Keiko is gone and Miles has been… "Playing with Julian" a lot 👀)
There's some good natured mockery/flirting, and Julian ends up throwing off Miles's concentration by mentioning his wife.
In the next episode, season three episode 17, "Visionary," Miles convinces Quark to put a dartboard in his bar. Quark argues that no one has ever come in asking for a dartboard, but Miles assures him people will.
To me, this reads like trying to convince someone that marketing specifically to queer people is important even if no queer people have ever complained about not being marketed to.
Miles and Julian play darts twice during this episode as well, but nothing particularly gay happens (outside of them being gay for each other in general).
Season three, episode 24, "Shakaar," has Miles playing darts with various guys on the station until he ruins his shoulder and needs to have Julian perform surgery to repair it.
Well that's what you get for playing with people who aren't your boyfriend. It's called karma.
In the fourth season premiere, "The Way Of The Warrior," Miles and Julian invite our old buddy Worf to play with them.
He throws a dart, and it goes extremely deep into the board.
The boys look intimidated. And rightfully so. As Jadzia will later (happily) learn, sex with a Klingon is anything but gentle.
(I wish he had thrown two darts, wink wink.)
Keiko returns in "Ascension," season four, episode 17, thereby ending Miles's "year as a bachelor," as Julian calls it.
Miles spends more time with his family, even trying to teach his daughter to play darts (in this context, darts with Molly does not represent sex, it just represents him trying to be a good father and husband and not having sex with his boyfriend). But he is clearly missing Julian; look at the way he longingly gazes at the outfit they wore together:
Julian has also been unsuccessfully playing darts with other people, and he and Miles lament that it just isn’t the same without each other. Eventually, Keiko arranges for them to spend extra time with each other because Miles is so depressed.
Season five, episode 16, "Dr. Bashir, I Presume?" reveals that Julian is augmented and has exceptional strength and hand eye coordination, among other things. This makes Miles realize Julian has been letting him win at darts all this time.
He is understandably upset that his boyfriend has been… uhhh… "faking it" 👀 and makes him play from 3 feet back to level the playing field (Miles metaphorically using marital aids).
He also suggests Julian play blindfolded. 👀
The next, and last, significant time they play darts is in season seven, episode 23, "Extreme Measures."
This is the episode in which Miles and Julian go through a harrowing ordeal which forces them to finally acknowledge that they love their significant others, but they like each other more.
At the end of the episode, the boys are playing darts in the bar. They are drinking. Miles is struggling with his sexuality at the realization of how close he and Julian are.
He says he needs to go home to Keiko. This is the conversation they have, word for word:
"She's a hell of a woman."
"That's why you love her."
"Mmm. That's right. That's why I love her."
There is no eye contact. It is awkward as hell. Is very obviously Not About Keiko, but rather Miles's last ditch attempt to avoid admitting that he would rather be with Julian right now.
So he leaves. Julian is alone, sad.
Then Miles pops back into frame. He has reconsidered. "Do you want to come?"
They leave the bar together, but not before Julian throws one last dart.
It's a bull's-eye. He scores, and, if you believe my metaphor, it won't be the first time he scores that night.
