Thankfully the rest of the ride was in silence, though Q was tense and a little stressed about pretty much everything about these two days. He keeps having to remind himself that it's only two days. Finally, the car pulls through the gates, and Q sighs a little as he looks out at the tree-lined lane, hedges just behind them and various other bits of what in the summer would be beautiful gardens, all leading up to a circular driveway around a central fountain, shut down because of the colder temperatures, but well maintained. There's a small overhang in front of the door, but luckily they don't need that, and Q doesn't wait for the chauffer to open the door for him, he just gets out, looking around with a little sigh. He goes to grab the suitcase and such out of the trunk, looking at the chauffer. "I prefer to carry my own things, thanks." He says quietly.
Bond gets out after allowing the driver to open the door for him, looking around for a few moments. "You grew up here?" he asks, surprised. It's one thing to say your family is wealthy, another to realize its Old Money. He allows the driver to take his things out of the boot, then he takes it from him. "Thank you." He says politely with a nod, before he follows the reluctant Q toward the door.
"Yes, Bond. I grew up here. It was cold, and oppressive." Q says as he looks around, and by the time they get to the door, it's been opened by an older man who appears to be a butler. He is also the first person that Q seems actually happy to see. He grins a little at the older man. "Charles! What a surprise, I thought you had retired ages ago." he says as he steps forward and shakes the man's hand.
Charles the butler takes Q's hand and smiles. "Master Ford. I am very pleased to see you here." He pauses for a moment, then smiles. "Retire, sir? No. Never, what would I do with myself?" he scoffs, shaking his head for a few moments before he looks at James expectantly.
"James Bond." The older agent introduces himself quickly, holding out his hand to the butler and shaking it firmly. He opens his mouth to say something more but is quickly cut off by a hasty Q.
"He's a friend from work, Charles. He didn't have anyone to spend the holidays with, so I decided to invite him to keep me sane here." He says with another smile.
Shaking the older man's hand, Charles looks over at him with an appraising eye and smiles. "Of course, sir. If you don't mind me saying, you could do much worse." he says in a quieter tone toward Ford, before he looks at Bond. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bond. I am Charles as you may have gathered, the butler of the house." He closes the door behind them, then motions toward the stairs. "Let me show you to your room, sirs. Master Sherlock and his friend aren't due to arrive for an hour, and of course Master Mycroft is already here with his assistant." He smirks a little as he looks back at Bond and Q as he heads up the stairs slowly.
Q turns an interesting shade of red at Charles' insinuation, but he doesn't give it any credence by making any sort of reply, he just glares at Charles for a moment, though it's only half-hearted. He starts following him up the stairs, not looking at anything other than the stairs.
Bond, on the other hand, looks around at the rich woods, tasteful carpets and potted plants, everything screaming taste and money. And along the walls of the stairs are pictures of the family, older family members toward the bottom, surprisingly, but as they reached the top of the stairs, he stopped to look at the family portraits, taking in the similarities in appearance between the three brothers, though it seems only Q came through with the poor eyesight. Then again, with his tinkering and interest in computers maybe that had something to do with it. Realizing he was falling behind, he turned and caught up with the other two in a few quick strides, looking around at everything. Finally, Charles stopped before a door, "Everything has been prepared for you. There are fresh towels, and some spare pillows and blankets in the closet.. if you'll need them." he says with a little smirk as he glances between the two.
Q blushes a little, and stiffens. "Charles." he reprimands softly before he steps into the room, sighing a little as he walks over to hang his garment bag on the wardrobe, opening it to let the clothes breathe, taking his toiletry bag out of his suitcase to put it in the en-suite bathroom.
Bond lingers outside for a few moments, peeking into the room before he smiles in his charming way at the butler. "I imagine you've known Ford all his life. Any advice?" he asks, tipping his head slowly toward the room with a little smirk.
Charles chuckles a little. "Mmm. I see that Master Ford is still as shy as always. He's never been the most popular child unfortunately. If there is something you're interested in, Mr. Bond, you may have to be willing to be patient." he says simply as he looks at the man. "I am glad to see that Master Ford has someone who cares for him so obviously. Oh, don't deny it, you can't fool an old man, I can see how protective you are of him." he says before he winks. "You'd better get in before the young master suspects anything." He says with a slight smirk.
Bond chuckles a little and he nods, clapping the older man on the shoulder. "Thank you, Charles." He says with a nod before he steps inside the room, closing the door behind him before he takes in everything. The room was a decent sized, and obviously hadn't been touched except perhaps to clean, since Q left. With a small chuckle, Bond takes in the desk which has a computer and three monitors on it, plus the partial guts of a computer along one side. "Well, I certainly hope Q-branch can provide you with something a little better than that." he says as he nods toward it, smirking as he hangs up his garment bag as well, catching Q coming back out of the bathroom. He finally removes his suit jacket and hangs it up over the back of the desk chair, slowly loosening his tie as he moves over to look out the window at the back yard, finally turning to look at Q, and then his eyes slide slowly over to the bed. "Just as I thought.. plenty of room." He says as he walks over to it, stretching out along one side.
It is really not fair how comfortable Bond can be anywhere he chooses, Q muses to himself, having gotten a glass of water from the bathroom. "Mmm. That was the first computer I built." He says as he walks over to it, trailing his fingers over the keyboard caressingly. "I spent hours in here by myself, tinkering.." he says with a fond little smile before he looks over at Bond slowly, blushing lightly as he looks the agent over, admiring the fit of his shirt for a moment before he clears his throat and nods. "Quite." He says in response to the bed comment, averting his eyes to fiddle with a few things on his desk.
"I suppose we should get some rest before the party." Q says as he pulls out his cellphone, sitting down to remove his shoes with one hand as he fiddles with his cellphone with the other. "The parties tend to run a little late." He says before he considers. "I'll give you a tour before the party." He offers as he looks over at Bond, removing his cardigan and tie and tossing them toward his suitcase before he resolutely heads toward the other side of the bed, determined to not let Bond put him off sleeping in his own bed. "I've set my alarm for 1. That can give us a few hours of sleep, we can get something to eat while I give you the tour, then come back and dress for the party." He says matter-of-factly as he sits on the edge of the bed, putting his cellphone on top of his nightstand before he removes his glasses slowly, pulling his pillow out from beneath the comforter before he lies down on top of the covers, focusing blearily on Bond.
This is pretty amusing for Bond, watching Q in his old room. He knew the Quartermaster was posh, but hearing him talk about big balls and parties, tour of manors and things like that just amuses Bond. While he listens to Q, he removes his shoes, and tie, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt before tossing his tie aside. "I could go for a few hours' rest." he says quietly with a small smirk. "I'm sure Medical will be happy I'm taking it easy for a few days." he says before he shuffles down on the bed, turning on his side to watch Q. "I am looking forward to this, Ford." he uses his real name softly, watching the younger man in front of him. "You really do have gorgeous eyes, I've never noticed because you hide them behind those awful glasses." He notes as he reaches out and brushes a wave of his hair away from his forehead slowly.
Q blinks a few times, before he looks away, lashes hiding his eyes from Bond's scrutiny. "Well. Yes. I see. Thank you, James." He says before he shifts over to lie on his back, but that's not really a natural sleeping position with him so he continues to fidget a little as he closes his eyes, trying to get comfortable.
"Bloody hell, Q. Relax." he says scoldingly before he props himself up on an elbow, deciding to be a little more aggressive, he reaches across Q to grab his opposite wrist, pulling swiftly so that Q rolls onto his side, releasing his hand so that it rests between them, before he reaches out and manhandles the clearly shocked young genius so that they are close to eachother on the bed. "I don't know about you, but I sleep better with someone close to me." he says, resting a hand innocently on the other man's waist.
Although this is not normally something that he would allow, it seems that Q is a little too shocked to do anything, and lets himself be manhandled into laying close to Bond, face to face with him, their legs nearly brushing, their breath mingling between them. "I'm not sure this is entirely appropriate, James." He says quietly, not being able to help continuing to use the double-oh's first name. It feels good to say it, and Q has to admit that this is a little bit of a fantasy, not that he would ever tell Bond that. The man has a big enough ego as it is, and Q has noticed he has the wrong parts to necessarily attract Bond's attention.
"We're off the clock, Ford. We're in your very private room, at your parents' house. Relax." he says quietly, rubbing slowly up and down the side of his back gently, just trying to soothe the younger man. Of course it does make him feel a little bit smug when he sees his eyes drooping and feels him relax slowly. "Sleep well, Ford." He murmurs, kissing his forehead before he shifts a little closer, resting his head slightly above Q's, keeping one arm draped around him. Just a few hours of sleep, holding his frankly adorable Quartermaster.
And this little two-day vacation had just begun. Oh, yes, this was going to be fun.
You guys have inspired me to write so much, so first and foremost, thank you for that! To my reviewer, thank you as well. I was really worried about how the banter would come across, if I would do it justice.
I need to get caught up on my companion story, I am about to go work on that one now! :)