Disclaimer: I do not own the Bond movies or books.
Warnings: None for this chapter.

"Do you ever 'lay back and think of England'?" James opened his eyes and tilted his head back to look at Q. The younger man was sitting up in his bed, leaning on the headboard. He had his laptop open and one hand had paused on the keyboard, while his other hand was resting in James' hair.

"It happens," the agent replied honestly. "I was on a honeypot mission a few years back; she enjoyed knifeplay. I did a lot of that then."

"Have you ever done it with me?" Q's voice wavered a little. "If I have ever done anything to cause you pain or..." he paused as Bond closed his eyes again.

"You are very elaborate and detailed in your definition of consent," Bond stated a second later, making the coder stay silent. It seemed as if Bond was about to give one of his rare explanations. The agent opened his eyes again, very deliberately, and focused on Q. "I would compromise my mission by giving you any grounds to assume my ability to offer consent is compromised in any way. Besides, I survive by reading people. You've never reacted badly, in any way, to me stating boundaries. In fact, you like it. You always relax when I set limits."

"I like to know that they're there," Q admitted. "That you'll stop me if I overstep. That you enjoy things as much as I do, I suppose..."

"You've never hurt me," Bond confirmed, resting his head against Q's thigh. "I know you desire honesty, and that you're afraid to be cruel. I wouldn't do that to you. You can put your mind at rest."

"I can force people to do things without even realising it," Q admitted, biting his lip. "There's so much power in what I do. And I have much of it over you, too... I regret my actions when we first met. I was naive to think that you'd be able to... whatever I was thinking. You're under even more pressure than most others would be. Your boss even ordered you here."

"I am always either under pressure or bored out of my mind," Bond responded. "I can judge people; wants, motivations. You picked me because I wouldn't be scared of you, and I'm not. There's nothing you need to regret."

"There could have been," Q was not arguing so much as agreeing. Bond trusted him, and because of that, and because he could, things had worked out alright after all. "You've always been easy to be around... and very, very attractive." He felt more than heard the chuckle coming from Bond. "You didn't answer my question though... is it any good? For you?"

Bond smirked into Q's hip, admitting softly. "It has been amazing more than once... and it is always alright." Q was clever enough to take the sentence for what it was; assurance that Bond was fine, and a sincere compliment. He was also far too clever to think "more than once" meant "often".

Q chuckled, shaking his head. "Very diplomatic," he complimented, getting a grin in responce, but no verbal reply. It seemed Bond had already abandoned his short stab at using words in any major way.

Q had turned his attention back to programming when Bond spoke again. "I trust you, which is rare," the man stated softly, head still resting against Q's thigh, "but I can see how M's orders would be a problem otherwise. You're not used to, but sometimes you need to go for what your intuition says. That is fine."

Playfully, Q moved a hand to Bond's forehead, smiling as the older man frowned in confusion. "Are you unwell? You keep speaking!" Q's mouth was saying, but his eyes merely said "thank you."

"You didn't answer my question though," Q realised a few minutes later, after successfully having wrecked havoc onto the digital life of the last person around the table in M's office; the last of the people willing to sacrifice Bond without even thinking about it first.

James looked up from the tablet he was currently using to read a novel (with Q's permission to borrow the technology, of course), his eyes asking what question that might have been. Q found it strangely reassuring that the man had seemingly run out of words again. "If you've ever 'lain back back and thought of England' when we've had sex." Q reminded him. Bond chuckled.

"No," James replies with a small chuckle, looking back down on his tablet for a moment of consideration before meeting Q's eyes again. "I actually haven't."

"And lying in bed with me?" Q questioned softly. "What are you thinking of?" The agent merely shrugged in responce, and Q frowned. "I make you lie around a lot since you got injured. You have to think of something!"

"Sometimes, often I don't. Or I try to relax as much as possible; you seem to enjoy that and it goes against all my training, so it is quite a nice challenge. Helps with the boredom." Q studied the agent. James was indeed lying sprawled over the mattress in a way he never had during their first few weeks together. As to his analysis, the coder realised that his lover was, rather unsurprisingly, right. He did enjoy touching James after a good workeout, swim or on the edge of sleep. A deadly weapon in rest.

"I really am rather odd, huh?" Q stated goodnaturedly, running a hand through James' short hair. He got another slight shrug as a reply, as the older man returned to his book, unconcerned as ever. Amused by his lover's unruffled nature, Q went back to his coding, intent on revolutionering the world by an entirely new computer game.