#because q called bond /james/ and i can't accept he did it just because he realised 007 was going to die so i gave them a do over after

[halfbaked00q]

Is there a fic where, like, Bond and Q are together but maybe not TOGETHER-together, and Q says something one day that is like flippant or dismissive and accidentally hurts Bond's feelings slash lowkey breaks his heart.

But like Bond doesn't get all stormy and angry about it, he gets kind of. like still and quiet and seems to accept it but then clearly Q has fucked up because going forward Bond is perfectly cordial, but markedly more... impersonal. And Q realizes oh, shit, he fucked up. And has to try to make things up to Bond, so he sets off on courting Bond- basically, he has to put the work into winning Bond back and convincing him he's serious and sorry for breaking his heart and won't willfully do so again

If not, then, man, I want a fic where Q and Bond are together but like Bond is rather serious about it and Q thinks it's casual, and makes some unintentionally cruel comment about their thing dismissing its seriousness, the concept of Bond being serious about it, Bond's capacity for seriousness and/or etc. It's a very *gets quiet* is that really what you think about me? kind of moment.

And when Q realizes he blunders he expects James to push back or even get angry and verbally retaliate, but instead he gets very quiet and puts his agent face on and is like, my apologies Quartermaster it seems like I was the one here who didn't quite understand what was happening, if you will excuse me- and then leaves before Q can tell him to wait or call him back.

And then Q kind of waits for the other shoe to drop or like, what if Bond will try to avoid him- but he doesn't, it's as if nothing had happened between the two of them. The next time they run into each other at Six it's maddenly normal and casual, but impersonal, exactly like what an encounter with a familiar and friendly - but not intimate - work colleague would be like at work.

Q finally is like. Wait, Bond. James. Do you want to... go back to my place after work? To which James pauses, but gracefully and noncommittally demurs, like. well I'm not sure about tonight, perhaps some other time. And bows out of the encounter smoothly and seamlessly (maybe they were in an elevator or something and oh ah this is my floor, have a good day, Quartermaster.)

Q abandons whatever he was doing and beelines it to Eve's desk for a crisis talk and she takes one look at him and drags him to some empty conference room or sth. And the whole story comes out. Can't decide if Bond would have talked to Eve about it or not- I'm kind of inclined to say no. But maybe this has been going on a while at this pt and she's noticed the weirdness between the two of them.

Anyway Q knows he's fucked up but he doesn't know how to fix it, and Eve is like, well what do you want out of all of this, do you really want to fix it? And I think Q should realize no yeah I do want something serious with Bond and also I did take him for granted/as a sure thing but really I should be doing more proactively to show I want to be serious but also to make up the ground for how I hurt him. (And I think there should be a moment where Eve tells him just make sure to be careful with Bond, don't hurt him more, and Q is like yeah no I realize that now and I fucked up and that's on me and I don't want to hurt him, I want to be careful with his heart and his trust (distinction made here that this trust is like, trust with his heart, cuz like they still work great together like they still trust each other professionally- it's the matters of the heart that got tricksy).

And so he sets off trying to woo Bond. First off they probably need to talk so Q probably is like, hey can I talk to you. And then lays out that he's realized some things and he realized he blundered and he may not have meant to do it but he did hurt him and in a sense violated a sort of implicit trust Bond entrusted to him, and that he wants to make things up to Bond. So he's gonna properly woo him. (which I'm thinking will leave Bond rather bemused but he's like, well all right) (but like yes, just saying sorry is not enough, whether he intended to or not his actions broke Bond's trust so now he has to show that he IS serious about this and will take it seriously and etc)

So then cue all of the corny romantic gestures that Bond maybe isn't used to experiencing but which are, like, those little gestures of love. He plans a series of thoughtful and lovely dates, gives him meaningful little gifts and treats, maybe some lovely bouquets of soft fragrant flowers, that kind of thing. Just like, all sorts of thoughtful careful tenderness that I think Bond wouldn't have had much occasion to experience or indulge in in his life. And Bond does go into it rather bemused and thinking it's not necessary, but then part way through he's like oh no yeah this really is really nice and it IS healing the part of me that had been kind of emotionally at arm's length waiting for the sort of return to form.

But yeah lol I am wanting something were, like, Q is the one who fucks up emotionally and then is the one to woo Bond, and Bond gets to experience some love and tenderness and be the one pursued romantically for a change.

Edit: here are some more

[pollyna]

Headcanon/fix-it of sort: contains spoiler of No Time To Die.

And then death will come by water. James doesn't know, doesn't remember who wrote this words, or if he just made them up, but nothing could be more true. Water took away Vesper, water drowned him away and saved him after Istanbul eben when he's not sure who came back after he woke up, water drowned slowly all the tears he wasn't crying during M's funeral and water took away his chance to save Felix. Not long after he will learn that water, freezing water, will forever link Madeleine and Safin. Water is where Safin shoots him so many times he doesn't know how he still finds the strength to get up and to finish the mission. Q voice is a balm for his soul even when staing awake is a constant struggle.

And then death will come by water he whispers while M is talking in his ears and Moneypenny is doing the same and then Madeliene is there too, telling him he can come back now, that everything is going to be okay, that they're safe. But all James wants to do is sit down and watch the immensity of the ocean before it's going to take him away too and he hopes, he really does, that his soul will find Vesper and Felix's because water took away one people too many from him and it can pay him back talking him to them now.

Water isn't how death comes to him in the end, at least for now. Death doesn't come to him at all. He wakes up and everything is white and shiny, nothing hurts and someone is holding his hand. Death isn't going to come by water James, not until I have something to say about it that someone whispers in his ear and sleep comes to him sounding like a blessing and a promise of a future the water isn't going to touch, until they're going to be together.