vaiyamagic:

Okay, can we talk about how amazing the interaction between Bashir and Data was? First of all, besides the adorable geek-out Bashir does, he calls Data a synthetic life-form rather than an android or robot or or any of those other dehumanizing things people seem to call Data. 

And when he asks about if Data’s hair grows, and how he breathes and has a pulse, and Data’s all, “Most people are interested in my extraordinary abilities; how fast I can compute; my memory capacity; how long I will live. No one has ever asked me if my hair will grow, or noticed that I can breathe.” And that smirk Julian has. You know he’s just thinking, “Well, considering I can probably compute almost as well as you, and my memory capacity is likely close to the same as yours, and while I may not live forever, I probably have a longer life span than the average human, so… yeah, the more mundane things about you are what interests me.” but he can’t say that, of course, so he says what he does in the show instead.

I want them to be friends. I imagine they become ‘pen pals’ and when Julian’s secret is revealed, Data puts the pieces together and asks him about their first interaction. This will be a thing.