Iām writing Sisko/Garak and one thing that I find very compelling about their dynamic is that there are hints in canon that they are both willing to use sex as a weapon or negotiating tactic.
We donāt get many indications as to their relationships to sex - with Sisko, most of his sexuality is constrained within the bounds of a committed longterm relationship, and with Garak, the queercoding of the character leads to him being somewhat desexualized, even with the gestures towards putting him in a het romance. But we do get a few in the mirrorverse.
Namely, in Through the Looking Glass, thereās the matter of Sisko sleeping with Mirror Jadzia in order to maintain his cover. And thereās an interesting moment when he tries to get out of it - he stops her and says āwe have a lot of planning to doā - but when she presses the issue, he goes along with it as the path of least resistance. And itās a dubiously consensual situation on both sides - Jadzia doesnāt know his true identity, and Sisko has been coerced into this entire charade by Mirror OāBrien. And while there are indications that Sisko isnāt entirely comfortable with the situation, the sexual aspect of his performance as his mirror counterpart isnāt exactly a dealbreaker for him, either. He capitulates relatively easily given how forceful and insistent heās comfortable being with her in front of the other rebels. And later with the Intendant, he slips very readily into a performance of seduction as well. Heās both aware of his sexual power and very pragmatic in using his sexual performance as a negotiating tactic, even within the coercive constraints imposed on him.
And with Garak, there is that moment between Mirror Garak and Mirror Worf in Shattered Mirror with Garak in a collar (ICONIC) where Garak suggestively offers Worf sex, as part of his very transparent attempt to ingratiate himself and make himself useful to Worf. And while itās not āourā Garak, it does feel very in character for Garak Prime, given his concern for his own survival and efforts to make himself maximally useful to whoeverās in power.
So when you pair them together, with Sisko very aware of his power over Garak (and willingness to exploit that power, as seen in Second Skin especially) and not necessarily being against cynically deploying sex for a particular goal, and Garak with his need to be useful by any means (and for all that he might outwardly chafe at Sisko exercising his power over him, he still actively goes out of his way to serve Siskoās interests, as seen in Past Prologue and especially In the Pale Moonlight, and Sisko knows that)ā¦ itās a very heady combination.
#the amazing digital circus
#photography
#coquette
#love and deepspace
#bloodymary
