The Stars Foretell
James bloody Bond was being weirdly well-behaved.
Q's gaze drifted over to the taped report on his workbench even as his hands continued soldering a long sliver of steel to a single-hook lock-pick.
The front cover was still folded back, the incident report on show for everyone to see, which, admittedly, was probably quite stupid of him, but given that rumours had already spread like wildfire throughout the entire damn building, it wasn't as if everyone didn't have at least some idea of what had happened anyway.
That had been two weeks ago, and Bond had come back from three terrible missions since - and was sent off on his fourth this morning - with his equipment being returned in pristine condition each time.
Alec said that it was "a fucking miracle that he's returning anything at all, so he really must be feeling terrible", and Q was cautiously optimistic with his reasoning. The fact that the man was continuing to do jobs well below his pay grade without complaint was proof enough of that.
And then there was the report.
Q found himself carrying the document around with him during the day as he moved from his office to the main branch to the workshop and back again. He knew it was a strange thing to do, knew that it wasn't logical to keep such a damning file with him at all times, especially since he knew exactly what it said by now, word for word.
But he also knew why Bond had given it to him.
It was... an acknowledgement, of sorts. An admission of guilt, proof that he knew that what he did was wrong and that he was trying his best to fix it. 007 wasn't exactly known for letting go of grudges, and Q doubted that he would ever actually hear the words "I'm sorry" come from the alpha's mouth, but he was apologising, just... in his own way.
He was still slightly wary around the man, although he knew that he would never stoop so low as to try and compel him ever again, but despite that, they had built a sort of... tentative truce over the past few days.
Plus, the other double-0s also refused to let him meet Bond without at least two of them present, so even if the man did try something, there was no way in hell he'd manage to leave the room alive afterwards.
The report reminded him that James was trying - trying to condone attempting to compel him, trying to treat Q the same way he used to before he knew his dynamic, trying to reconcile with the fact that not all omegas were out to hurt him. And they were making progress, however slowly. In fact, the only setback they'd had was when Bond's backup clip for his Walther had turned out to be empty during the middle of a gunfight on his third mission - the first mission that Q had run comms on personally.
Apparently, Q's minions had decided to get revenge in their own way for how he'd treated their Quartermaster, and although ninety-nine per cent of them had stuck to frustrating yet ultimately harmless pranks, Daniel - of fucking course - had decided to take things a step further.
Bond had barely escaped by the skin of his teeth, managing to steal a weapon from the guards chasing him and using that instead of his own pistol, but luckily, he'd eventually managed to get away unharmed.
It had surprised Q, just how worried he'd been for the double-0 during that long tense moment. It had surprised him even more when James had insisted that it wasn't Q's fault, that he knew the Quartermaster would never put his agents' lives at risk like that, and Q hoped that that was a testament to how far their not-quite-friendship-yet relationship was progressing.
It still hadn't stopped him from yelling at Daniel for the better part of two hours, however, and when Alec had found out what he'd done-
Oh boy.
M had refused to let him fire the man, claiming that it would only give the double-0s even more means and opportunity to dispose of the idiot, but he had sanctioned a one-week unpaid suspension and had preceded that by lecturing the man for yet another hour about carelessness and manslaughter.
Needless to say, Daniel had very quickly run from the building with his tail between his legs.
The only other hitch he'd had, were the rumours. Q knew that he couldn't expect to keep the incident quiet for long, but by the very next day, it seemed like all of MI6 had found out what had happened. The fact that James bloody Bond was nowhere in sight had only confirmed their theories.
The building was split in two - those on Q's side, and those on Bond's. Thankfully, the majority were unwavering in their support of Q, although it usually wasn't for the reasons he wanted. They simply saw a poor frightened omega being compelled against his will by a big bad alpha, and even the die-hard dynamicist traditionalists felt sorry for him. A very select few now looked to him as their god - the powerful badass omega who had broken out of a thrice as powerful alpha's compulsion, but honestly, Q could do without the hero-worshipping too. The final group believed that he deserved it, that he shouldn't have been talking back to an alpha of Bond's calibre, that he'd clearly forgotten his place as an omega and wasn't it just wonderful that 007 had been there to remind him?
The first - and only - person who'd gotten just a little bit too vocal with that particular opinion had quickly ended up in medical, and although Q had stared down the rest of the double-0s with his most ferocious scowl for an entire hour - not one of them cracked.
Fortunately for them, the bigoted alpha in question had a broken jaw, so he was in no position to tell the doctors who'd attacked him either.
M had merely sighed, shook his head in exasperation, and then clocked out early for the day.
Q had handed Bond his equipment himself for his fourth mission, and the man had left early that afternoon with a nod and a small but seemingly genuine smile. From behind him, Duncan had scoffed and rolled his eyes, whereas Alec had simply beamed.
He'd yet to see the two alphas act intimately with each other, but he'd also yet to see one of them without the other standing by their side, so Q was still none the wiser on if they were actually together or not.
He knew they lived together - obviously - but even his reasoning for that was up in the air. Did they live together because they were together? Or because it was more convenient? It didn't make sense for them to pay the rent on two apartments when at least one of them would always be empty after all, so maybe they just lived together because it was more practical that way.
Or maybe they really were dating.
He frowned at the thought, momentarily losing track of what he was doing, resulting in a loud yelp and the smell of burned skin.
Q hissed and immediately dropped the soldering iron, sticking his thumb into his mouth with a grimace. From behind him, Alexis cooed and placed a kiss on top of his head.
"Want me to call Duncan?"
"It's just a burn, 001" he replied, words slightly garbled, "I'll be fine".
"Still though. You should at least put a plaster on it, hun".
Sighing, he yanked open the middle drawer in his desk and pulled out a small and compact first aid kit. Alexis reached over his head to take it, and from behind him, he heard her forage around in it for a band-aid.
For the past few hours, she'd been keeping him company in the workshop, having dragged over a table behind his chair so she could hop up on it and play with his hair while he worked. It was late afternoon and only half a dozen or so of his minions remained in the garage, but according to Alexis, this was the entire point. He was still a bit... odd with the double-0s being so physically affectionate with him outside of his own private office, but she had simply taken that as a challenge and had conspired with Saif to get him "used to it" while others were around.
It still felt weird to have someone petting him while his employees looked on in terrified awe, but Q had to admit that it was also kind of... nice. He could definitely concentrate better with one of the pack nearby, as counterintuitive as it seemed, and after a few days, his minions started to get used to it too and started to stare less and work around the double-0s more.
"Here, give me your hand".
Q reluctantly pulled his thumb from his mouth and then growled as she put some sort of stinging cream on the blister.
"Oh calm down, you baby, it's only antiseptic" she scolded, gently wrapping a plaster around his finger and securing it in place, "There! Now you can get back to work".
"Yes, mother" he grumbled, getting an admonishing tug on his curls in response.
Picking up the lock-pick, he admired his work so far. It was a new prototype that he was trying out for Jake - using cheap, stand-in picks for the moment of course until he figured out if his modifications would work or not. Currently, he was adding a thin, narrow compartment on the handle of the pick itself. If everything went according to plan, then it shouldn't be noticeable on the final product - not unless you knew where to look, of course.
Unfortunately, there weren't many changes that he could actually make to a lock-picking set, although that was more from a lack of realistic possibilities than a lack in his own imagination. He'd already had to scrap a dozen or so ideas, simply because their current laws of physics wouldn't allow for it, which was quite rude of them, really. But so far, this new idea of his appeared to be working.
Once the secret compartment was sealed, he would be filling it with a very long yet very narrow carbon nanotube wire. It was something he'd been toying with for a while now - a new and improved garrote if you will. This particular wire was over one-hundred times stronger than steel, after all, and thirty times tougher than kevlar, so it was more than capable of cutting through wood, plastic, and metals - or even a person, if needs be.
He'd have to get Jake to test it out later in the week, and if it worked, then he could see about getting the wire added to each of his double-0s preferred item of choice. For some, it would be easy - a hollow lighter for Alec, a keychain for Alexis, the frame of sunglasses for Charlie, a leather bracelet for Saif, maybe a hair tie for Milli - but for the others...
Duncan would be a challenge, given that the man's favourite weapon was his own fists, and short of turning him into Wolverine, Q was at a loss as to what to add the wire to. Edie, too, given that she used her striking looks as a way into everywhere - although perhaps that would open more doors for him than he realised. If he could mould the wire into a piece of clothing, perhaps, although jewellery could easily get lost or taken off of her, and most outer layers she ended up shedding herself, so perhaps a bra wire? But that would lead to him having to ask her a whole bunch of awkward questions and he already knew that she would laugh and drag it out just to make him suffer. But still, it was an option, which was more than he could say for James.
Watches were always a safe bet where most agents were considered, but Mr-I-fed-my-custom-made-gun-to-a-Komodo-Dragon always did like losing things that weren't his. Perhaps he could ask Alec - if anyone knew what 007 was least likely to leave behind him, it would surely be his partner.
Or not partner.
Or partner.
Or-
Q groaned and leaned back against Alexis with closed eyes. For someone so petite, her stomach was surprisingly soft to rest against, and her bare legs were warm against his arms.
"... Hey, Alexis?"
She hummed absently, fingers still carding through his hair.
"Are- Are Bond and Alec... together?"
"Together?"
He swallowed thickly, surprisingly nervous but still needing to find out the truth before he went insane trying to figure it out himself.
"Yeah, you know... together together, like... dating?"
She snorted, hands leaving his curls as she answered.
"Oh, Q, poor naive innocent sweet little baby Q... They're fucking".
He choked and spun his chair around to face her, and she laughed at his scandalised expression.
"There are nice ways to do that, you know!"
She merely grinned in response.
"Oh, I'm sorry, what I should have said is that the two toughest elitist testosterone induced hyped up aggressive super alphas ever... make love".
Q scowled.
"Fine! Whatever. Don't take me seriously then".
"I always take you seriously, hun-"
Which.
You know.
She did.
To be fair.
"-but I'm afraid I also don't know any more than that. It could just be a friends-with-benefits type thing, or it could be something more. None of us are stupid enough to think we can remain monogamous, not in our line of work, but... who knows? Maybe they're dedicated to each other outside of missions. I've never known them to sleep around when they're both in England, so... yeah, I guess. They probably are together. As much as they can be, anyway".
He slowly nodded, not feeling even the slightest bit better now that he had an answer.
"Why do you want to know?"
"What?"
"Why" she repeated, threading her fingers through his curls, "do you want to know?"
She gave a firm tug, just where she knew he liked it most and he immediately melted into a puddle of goo at her feet.
"Traitor".
"You love it". She smirked, completely unashamed, but unfortunately, he couldn't disagree. As for her question, however...
"No reason" Q said, voice forcefully light, "Just... curiosity, I guess".
"Mhm". She hummed, clearly not convinced. "So this has absolutely nothing to do with your frankly adorable crush on Trevelyan then?"
"My- I- You- I don't- That's- That's not- I mean- I mean, he's not- We're- I'm- That's- That's totally not-"
"I'm going to cut you off right there, hun".
"Oh thank god" he exhaled, collapsing forward against her and breathing in her soothing scent. There was something sweet and almost honey-like in whatever perfume she wore, reminding him of summer and brighter days.
"I think it's cute" she continued, "I mean, you're clearly head over heels for the guy, and he looks at you like you hung the moon and the stars. It's almost sickening, really".
Q felt his heart rate increase at her words. Alec looked at him like that? Like he- he could imagine a relationship with him? But that didn't make any sense. Alec was one of the best people he knew - sure, he was probably a psychopath, but he was a highly functioning one and deep down, he was genuinely a good person.
He could have anyone - did have someone, in fact, since Q could no longer deny the fact that 006 and 007 were a thing. And Bond - where did he even begin? What could Q offer Alec that James couldn't? Computer skills? But he didn't even need that, not with Duncan and Edie in his pack, and besides, all of this was pointless to think about anyway because if it ever came down to it, there was no way in hell that Alec would ever choose him over James anyway.
Q couldn't interfere with whatever it was that they had - his own depressing love life was most certainly not a reason to destroy the happiness that Alec and James apparently had.
So Alexis was probably just seeing things. She had to be. Because if Alec was happy, then he wouldn't be looking at Q like that, and if he wasn't happy, then he sure as hell wasn't the type of guy to just hang around in a bad relationship anyway.
Unlike Q.
"I can hear your cogs and gears grinding, honey" Alexis said with another tug of his curls, "What's up?"
"... Alec and James are together".
"Probably".
"So Alec... doesn't look at me like you say he does because- because he can't".
"And why not?"
Q reluctantly straightened up, sitting back in his chair with a confused frown and detangling her fingers from his hair in the process. She stared back at him unfazed, her fae-like features more obvious than ever as she gave him that I-know-something-you-don't kind of look.
"I hate to go all millennial on you, hun, but polyamorous relationships are a thing".
And-
Huh.
His frown deepened as his mind went haywire.
All... three of them? In one relationship? That was- That was possible? Or did she just mean him and Alec being together while James and Alec also stayed together separately? But Q couldn't live like that, couldn't only have one person to share when he was just as intrigued by the other alpha too.
It was selfish of him, he knew, to only want both or neither, but there was no way in hell that the pair would ever look at him anyway, even if they were open to adding an additional person to their relationship. Why would they try to fix something that wasn't broken?
(Unlike Q)
"The gears are still turning, hun" Alexis said, warm hands coming down to cup his face so she could force him to look up at her, "Is it really so hard to believe that they both want you?"
Yes.
"I... don't know" he said instead, trying and failing to avoid her gaze, "I just-"
"You just-?"
"... I just don't understand" he finally admitted, "I've only ever had one real relationship before and that was... well, let's just say that it didn't end well".
Her jaw clenched as she no doubt read between the lines of that particular statement, but when she spoke, her voice was as level as always.
"So you don't understand how this is meant to work" she guessed, "How one omega can have two alphas without them ripping out each other's throats".
"Well... yeah".
"Easy. They're not just alphas. They're double-0s". Alexis shrugged as if the answer was as simple as that. "The fact that they're both alphas and they're still together after however many years is proof enough that they're not exactly... normal. And neither are you".
"Gee, thanks".
"You know what I mean, hun". She rolled her eyes at him but finally let go of his face. "We're all wired a little differently from the rest of humanity. So who's to say that it won't work?"
"You seem awfully sure that this relationship is going to happen".
"Are you kidding me? Once Alec gets his teeth in something - pun not intended - he never let's go. And as soon as James gets his head out of his ass and realises what a catch you are, you'll be beating them off with a stick... Unless, of course, you're into that sort of thing, then the stick will very much come in handy-"
"001!"
She grinned, wide and happy and just a touch too sharp to look harmless.
"I mean it, hun. Don't give up on those idiots yet. In fact, if I were you, I'd make them work for it. God knows that James has a lot to make up for, and the way Alec looks at you makes me think that there's not a whole lot he'd say no to. Just... give it time. Alright?"
"... Alright".
"Good". She clapped both hands together. "Now, in saying that, as soon as they have finally proven themselves worthy, let me know, and I'll be sure to remind them of just how unworthy of you they really are".
"001!"
"Maybe I'll even get Duncan involved. Heaven knows that he doesn't need an excuse to punch James".
"Alexis!"
"Maybe Edie too, depending on how vicious I'm feeling. She would certainly put them back in their place".
"Alexis Palladino, you are not, and I repeat not, allowed to give them the shovel talk!"
"... You're right" she finally agreed, and he let out a gust of air in relief.
But then she grinned.
"I'll just let M and Moneypenny do it instead".