#got swamped at work then sick then addicted to dead boy detectives

[statisticallymorelikely]

AHHHH!!! Hello hi I’m back and I absolutely adore all of your Old guard x 00q crossover ideas!!! Thank you for indulging in my brainworms lol. Nicky calling Q bambino absolutely undoes me ahhhh 🥺🥺 and Q being the baby of the group is so funny!! When I was first thinking about it I headcannoned that Q was older than booker by a couple decades but honestly I think that just makes Q being solidly the kid of the group even funnier. Q, hasn’t been the newest member of the guard for 250+ years, dead eye staring as Booker (50 years younger than him) and Nile (literal 20-something-year-old), both skip mostly past baby treatment while Andy still calls him kiddo all the time.

Broooo and Bond seeing Q killed in front of him?? Maybe as a result of his actions??? Like. The guilt!! The angst!! The pain!! *chefs kiss* lovely absolutely lovely. And him being left alone to stew with the body?!?? Just him struggling to compartmentalize enough to do his job, kind of going into shock, wondering why the hell Q dying hurts as much as it does. Just Bond having his “oh” moment only after Q dies. Realizing he loved the snarky little bugger that kept him alive and guided him and helped him hide from medical and M. And then realizing that he can’t do anything about those feelings because Q is dead and it’s his fault. Only to have Q come back to life in front of his eyes.

I have this one scene in my head right now where MI6 has to work with the CIA for some reason and Copley is there as a favor for one of his former coworkers or smthn. And the entire time the man is completely unsubtle like. The opposite of subtlety, keeps glancing over at Q with wide eyes and Q’s dying inside. He’s developing an eye twitch and every time Copley looks at him M and R look at Q like “what’s going on rn” and Q’s like “I never should’ve okayed working with this man”. The two double O agents of your choice guarding the door are simultaneously staring a hole in the side of Q’s head and texting the double O groupchat about the situation.

Also you’re so right about Nile and Q bonding over art!! Ahhh I’m just imagining she takes a day trip to come visit him in London and they go to a bunch of museums and just chat. She calls him old man as a joke and he’s so used to being babied that he secretly loves it. And ik London is MI5 jurisdiction but I think it would be so funny if Nile, Q, and Bond get caught up in some kind of plot and have to save the day. Even better if this is Bond’s first time meeting any of the old guard members in person. Just Nile meeting Bond for the first time, giving him a once over and looking at Q and calling him a cradle robber. And Q is standing there having flashbacks to Bond saying that exact same thing while James is keeled over, laughing so hard he’s crying for the first time in decades. Nile just crosses her arms and is like “I said what I said”. NILE AND MONEYPENNY BONDING HDNDNDNDNDN. The two of them bonding 100 percent gives Q a headache.

And just. Q’s stuck in the UK because of his job, but he’s still part of the guard! Andy and him face timing to give updates, Joe and Nicky constantly texting him everyday, Nile calling him to tell him about whatever stupid shit is going on at the moment. When everything with Quynh gets sorted out I bet she and him constantly call too!! And him and Booker being tech bros!! And ofc they visit him pretty often, popping in and out of the country sometimes all together sometimes one at a time. Just being family y’know?

oop welcome back!

yesss it doesn't matter how old you headcanon Q as (personally i'm thinking after booker, think robert frobisher vibes), he is still baby. he used to scoff at it but he has to admit he misses it whenever he has to go back to london. eve's teasing makes up for it a little bit.

oh after bond finally finds out and they're Talking About It, he kind of feels relieved. at least he doesn't have to worry about Q dying anymore, right? but then bond learns about quynh, and then about merrick (Q deeply regrets not being able to fish them out of that one, he did clean up after them though), and about things worse than death

and then Q tells him oh so gently that no, he could still die. one day he will stop healing and it will be his time, and it's going to be okay, james, we all have to make peace with our mortality. and maybe the reminder of Q's mortality again is what finally kicks bond into Doing Something about this thing he has for Q

after the whole merrick debacle, Q not being in on the punishment to exclude booker offers him comfort and a place to stay. booker rejects the former but accepts the latter. Q always has a hand out and simply waits for booker to reach back.

Q maintaining a separate network of safehouses for his fam because he is still 50-50 on trusting copley. nile asks him if he has a stash similar to andy's cave. the next time they're in america, Q directs them to stay at his little townhouse in boston where she finds a couple of lost rembrandts and vermeers casually hanging in the bedrooms.

the second time bond witnesses Q die is when they're all drunk off their asses and joe dares him to jump into a pool from the third floor balcony. it's a large pool. Q misses. he revives laughing.