#the only thing getting me thru this nyc trip is thinking abt him

[causenessus]

he's so pretty

[patrice-bergerons]

now you need to tell everyone about your 00q idea set in istanbul

OMG thank you Faatimah for indulging me 💖

The elevator pitch goes like this:

First as background, Q had a (OC) Turkish bf back in uni and they got along like a house on fire; only broke up when the bfs parent got cancer or sthing and he decided to move back to Istanbul. They kept in touch though and for Q it was one of those easy, wonderful relationships where you can not see or talk to someone for months but when you do see them again you just pick up where you left off. The dude (I want him to have an old fashioned name like Bülent) was also always talking abt moving back to London someday and altho what they have never stopped either from dating other people, I suppose in the back of his head Q always thought they would one day find themselves in the same city and get back together again.

The fic opens when this friend falls suddenly and fatally ill and Q wants to visit him before he dies. Q has also been put in some peril on the job a couple months back and he is emotionally still reeling from it, so not wanting to brave the trip alone, he asks Bond to come with him.

Now onto Bond--he and Q kinda dated a few years ago but Bond (self)sabotaged it and it took a lot of time for them to find their rhythm as friends again. But then when Q was in peril, everything fell into place for Bond. He realised that he loved this man, that he messed up before bc he was scared and that he wants to build a life with Q; if he gets a second chance (which he then thought he might) he would do everything in his power to make Q happy. And hell, even if he doesn't get that second chance he would still just be there for Q in any way Q needs him. Which is also why Q felt so comfortable asking him to come along, bc he has been so good subtly being there for Q in the aftermath of this traumatic event.

Except, Bond has been dragging his feet re making another romantic overture, bc, he has been saying to himself, Q is still vulnerable but its also low key bc he is scared--of the answer he is going to get, of the ways he can mess it up again. It's one thing to decide you will be the perfect boyfriend in your head and another to commit to it day in, day out. It's no matter he thinks, there is no rush, they have time.

So then SURELY in Turkey while Qs friend is dying is the worst possible time to bring any of this up, which is...fine up until Q says he's got this offer from a hedge fund in new york and he will accept it bc he just needs a fresh start somewhere else.

So I guess it's a fic about second chances and being too late - Q grieving for his friend and all the time they wasted and Bond - while pulling a masterclass in looking after Q - grieving for much the same, this realisation that Q will slip away from his fingers, and after everything Q has been thru, after everything Bond has done in the past, how can he ask him to stay?

I LOVE using descriptions of imagery to set the mood and I can go on and on when it comes to Istanbul; I also have a lot of pain and grief in my relationship to that city which would transpose very well onto Q and Bond's grief here I think. Especially as, they would have some time to kill between the friends death and the funeral so they would be going here and there in Istanbul so as to get out of their heads a little, Bond wanting to visit maybe the traumatic places from Skyfall, and bc Bond has that cushy inheritance they would stay at a posh hotel right by the Bosphorus with a view of the strait from their rooms.

And idk after all this angst and pain maybe we can still have a happy-ish ending, perhaps featuring Bond following after Q to NYC and offering his services as a bodyguard.