Passionate Leave
The next morning, Q woke up with a hangover from hell.
His entire body just ached, the pain pulsating with every beat of his far too-quick heart, along with an itch just beneath the surface of his skin that he couldn't quite scratch. His mouth was dry, swallowing felt like sandpaper against his parched throat, and even groaning out loud sent tremors wracking through his pounding head.
What the fuck happened last night?!
Images of shot glasses, laughter, and blurred faces flashed before him like a hazy montage, sending his head reeling and causing his stomach to do some uncomfortable flips. He winced, trying to piece it all together.
The last thing he remembered was…
Wait.
Did he kiss Alec?!
Oh no.
Oh no no no.
He did, didn't he?
After- After the pack went out to celebrate and Alec and James were dancing and James had winked at him the bloody bastard and Q had- had gone to the bar, hadn't he? And then that other bloody bastard had refused to take no for an answer so Alec had kissed him and he'd decided to get drunk and he'd stolen Charlie's shots- or had they belonged to Alexis? No, no he hadn't seen Alexis until after-
After.
Q felt his stomach give a traitorous flip and he squeezed his eyes tight enough to see stars as he took a long, slow, deep breath.
After.
Okay then.
This was- This was fine.
He had- And the guy from the bar had- And then Duncan had- And Jake had taken him outside and-
And alpha.
Q frowned.
Alpha?
Who the hell had he called-
Wait.
How the hell did he even get home?!
Did the others bring him? They must have done, because the only thing he could smell right now was his own scent - not any strangers, thank fuck - but there was something else there too, something safe and familiar and smokey but ever so slightly earthy too and-
His pillow moved.
His. Pillow. Moved!
"You back with us, cub?"
Q very firmly kept his eyes shut.
"006, why are you in my bed?"
There was an amused snort.
"I'm not".
Q frowned and sniffed again.
The scent of James wasn't as strong as his partner, which he had previously put down to the remnants sticking to Alec himself - but now that he paused and took his time in distinguishing the two, he realised that there was just as much gunpowder and earth in the room as there was smoke, and given that James wasn't currently with them, as well as the smoother, softer sheets surrounding him, it meant that-
"006, why am I in your bed?
Warm, gun-calloused fingers threaded lightly through his hair.
"How much do you remember, cub?"
He shifted uncomfortably, but kept his head on the alpha's chest, listening to the man's soothing heartbeat in an effort to slow down his own.
"... Enough".
Alec's fingers got caught on a tangled curl and as he lightly tugged it loose, Q felt tingles race up and down his spine.
"That's… good" he replied somewhat evasively, "Do you- Do you remember me and James asking to bring you home?"
"You're trembling, pup".
"Cub, I need you to listen to me very closely, okay?"
"Pup? Is it okay if Alec and I bring you to our flat?"
He slowly nodded.
"Well… We brought you home" Alec finished simply, "You were pretty out of it, but you slept in our bed Friday night, and then showered and changed clothes yesterday morning. Then you built a blanket fort, stole James's sweatshirt, angrily swatted and hissed at us like a drenched alleycat all day, before falling asleep again late last night".
"Last night?" His nose scrunched up as he tried to do the maths, but thinking was too hard right now. "What day is it?"
"Sunday. Just after ten, I'd reckon. James is gone out on a grocery run, but he should be back soon enough".
Sunday.
The word echoed in his mind, his chest feeling oddly… hollow.
Sunday.
Losing just the one day to a drop definitely wasn't as bad as things could have gone, but he still had lost an entire day and he really really really hated the disconcerting feeling of lost time.
He knew he should be grateful - Knew that he should be blessing and thanking and praying to whatever deity out there that it had been James and Alec who'd brought him home, that it had been someone he trusted that saw him through the drop, that he had been safe and cared for and not taken advantage of at all during the previous twenty-four hours but-
His head hurt.
His body hurt.
His entire being just… hurt.
"Why don't I make us some tea" Alec said quietly, "You can stay here for a while if you like - nobody expects you anywhere until Tuesday at the earliest".
Q found himself nodding automatically, although he did make a mental note to ask about M and his cats and, you know, what had happened to the asshole that had caused all of this to begin with and-
And that could all wait until after the caffeine.
Twenty minutes later, Q found himself wrapped up in the warmest blanket Alec could find, sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of earl grey held in slightly shaky hands.
He'd insisted on getting up - even though he couldn't really remember much of yesterday, his body was stiff and somewhat weak in a way that suggested he'd spent far too long lying down recently; something which Alec confirmed with a grin as he started to explain in excruciating detail the "nest" that Q had apparently built for himself.
It was mortifying, to say the least, but at the same time, he couldn't fight off that little spark of pure and utter joy at the realisation that he had people who would take care of him now.
Francisco never used to help him during the rare drops he had - rare, at least, before that final year - so the exhaustion, achiness, and general jitteriness were unfortunately not a new experience, but it had been years since he'd last crashed, and he couldn't ever remember dropping this hard before.
But Alec and James had taken care of him, had properly taken care of him without him having to ask for help, without them taking advantage of him in his weakest state, without expecting anything in return - and for that, at least, he couldn't help but smile into his cup.
Of course, that smile was promptly wiped off his face when he recalled the events leading up to his drop, and although the event itself was currently one massive blur in his memory, he did remember what had caused that arrogant bastard to become so furious in the first place and-
"You kissed me!"
Alec paused, one hand holding a white mug that read "I'm totally not a Russian spy" in all caps, raised halfway to his mouth.
"... Yes".
"That wasn't a question".
"That wasn't an answer".
"006".
"Quartermaster".
"Alec!"
"Q".
"Oh for- Are we seriously going to do this again?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, cub".
He took a deep breath, winced as it pulled on absolutely everything, and then placed his own cup - black, cursive, "Deny Everything" - on the table in front of him.
"You kissed me".
"So I did".
"You have a boyfriend".
"We're kind of post-label, actually. Boyfriend just sounds so… childish".
"Oh, so I'm using it correctly then".
"Ouch".
"Alec".
The blond sighed and finally lowered his own mug as well; tea or coffee or, even more likely, vodka long since forgotten.
"What do you want me to say, cub?"
"I want you to say that your partner isn't going to murder me as soon as he finds out!"
"My partner isn't going to murder you and he has already found out".
"He-" Q stopped, then frowned. "He what?!"
"I told James what happened on Friday night" Alec replied, as calm as you please, "After we brought you home but before you pinned us down in our own bed".
He refused to feel embarrassed.
"And he still-"
"What? Helped you? Slept with you?"
This time, Q did flush, and Alec - the absolute bastard - smirked at his reaction.
"Of course he did, cub. He cares about you; we both do".
"But not like- like-" He cut himself off and then growled in frustration. "He has every right to want to murder me!"
"Maybe. Maybe not". Alec shrugged. "But like I told you at the club; James isn't going to be mad at you, cub".
"But why not?!" he exploded, before immediately wincing as the loudness caused his head to throb, "You keep- keep saying that but- but you still haven't explained why! Friends or not, I still kissed his partner! He should be furious with me right now!"
The blond picked up his cup once more and took a long enough sip that Q started to doubt his vodka theory.
"... I know we've been a bit all over the place lately" he admitted, "But right now isn't the time to get into it all. We will discuss it, cub, I promise, just- just not today, alright? You need to rest and recover and get back to your usual snarky self before we start explaining things - but once you do, I promise you, we will discuss this".
Q had to admit; not talking sounded pretty good right now - as did a shower and maybe even a nap to feel vaguely human again - but he didn't like not knowing where he stood with people, and being out of sorts with James and Alec, of all people, was most definitely not something that was helping his anxiety right now.
"Trust me, cub" he said earnestly, "James isn't mad at you; neither of us are angry or upset or anything negative with you, alright? We're just the same with each other as we were before Friday night, so there is absolutely nothing to panic about".
"... Aside from the fact you killed a man, you mean?"
"Well… technically it was James who did that, so I'm in the clear".
"Ever hear of aiding and abetting?"
"Ever hear of no body no crime?"
That made Q pause.
"... Where do you double-0s dispose of bodies you don't want to be found?"
"That's not for you to worry about, cub. Plausible deniability and all that".
Before he could reply, they heard the beep of the keypad by the front door, and a few seconds after that, James stepped into the kitchen, both hands weighed down with shopping bags.
When he saw Q, he stopped, before giving his partner a somewhat cautious look.
"He's up" Alec said, with a smirk.
"I can see that".
"No, you идиот, I mean he's up" he repeated, draining the last of whatever the hell was in his cup before standing and making his way over.
Leaning closer, he whispered something too low for Q to hear, before giving the man a quick kiss and taking the shopping bags from him.
"Keep our boffin company while I put these away, would you? And he's already after one cup of tea, so don't let him bribe you into making him another".
"Hey!" Q immediately protested, but they both ignored him, Alec making himself busy with the groceries while James hovered somewhat awkwardly near the table.
On the plus side, he didn't look mad - just as his partner had promised - but on the other hand, he looked just as unsure about how to proceed as Q felt, and the omega didn't have the slightest clue as to how to move on from this.
They stared at each other silently for a minute while Alec pretended not to notice before-
James gave a small, tiny, minuscule smile and held open both arms, and Q wasted no time whatsoever in lunging for the man, consequences be damned.
The blond quickly caught him - as well as his blanket - and easily picked him up, half-walking half-shuffling back towards the omega's chair, which he sat down on himself. Adjusting his hold on Q, the younger man found himself being shifted until he was sitting sideways on his lap before James picked back up his blanket and made sure that he was safely wrapped up in it once more.
Q wanted to cry.
He didn't deserve to be treated like this - kindly, softly, like he was worth something. Not by James. Not by the man whose partner he had kissed. He shouldn't be treating him the exact same way as before, as if he'd done nothing wrong, it wasn't fair!
"Hush, pup, you're alright" James murmured, gently pressing his head down until his face was pressed against his neck where the scent of gunpowder and earth and home was at its strongest.
He squeezed his eyes shut tight. "I'm sorry".
Large warm hands pulled him even closer. "You have nothing to be sorry for, pup, I promise".
"You're- You're not mad?"
"Never" he swore, "Not at you. Not for this".
Q finally started to feel some of the tension leave his body.
"You sure?"
"Completely and utterly".
His shoulders relaxed as the guilt that was gnawing at him since he woke began to fade.
"... Really?"
"Really really. Cross my heart and hope to die".
Q reluctantly pulled away to frown at the man.
"You die on a regular basis".
James smiled, small but genuine, and the corner of his eyes crinkled in amusement.
"That just shows you how serious I am".
Groaning, Q face planted his chest once more as the final dredges of anxiety drifted away.
James wasn't mad.
He had kissed Alec, but James wasn't mad.
Q wasn't entirely sure why he wasn't mad, exactly, but for now, he was content with the knowledge that - for whatever reason - they were just as close as they'd always been.
After a quiet breakfast, interrupted only by an occasional teasing remark by Alec or James about cutting up his toast and hand-feeding him, Q started to slowly but surely feel more human again.
He was still exhausted, his entire body still ached as if he'd just run a marathon with zero training, and there was still that itch just beneath the surface of his skin that was starting to get worse by the minute - but overall, he didn't feel half as disorientated as he had when he'd first woken up.
He was also becoming consciously aware of how grimy he felt, both from being in the same clothes for twenty-four hours straight and from the vague, still-blurry memory of someone… touching him.
Running a hand through his hair, he paused.
"... Do I have an afro?"
Alec immediately lowered his gaze.
"... Maybe a little one".
The omega sighed.
"006, why do I-"
"I towel-dried your hair".
"You did what?!"
James was very very poorly trying to hide his laughter, but the shaking of his shoulders gave him away.
"You went for a shower yesterday morning and got dressed, but when you came out your hair was dripping water everywhere so I… you know".
"Towel dried curly hair" he said flatly, "Did I try to stop you?"
"Well… yeah, but I thought you were just being fussy!" he rushed, "You are very fussy when you're under!"
"And demanding, too" James added unhelpfully, flashing the omega a grin that set his heart racing and made his palms sweat just a little bit.
"006, you do not, ever, under any circumstance, towel dry curly hair! Everyone knows that!"
They stared back at him with matching blank expressions.
"Every normal person knows that" he reluctantly amended, "You know what? Never mind. Can I-"
Alec thankfully nodded towards the hall. "Shower's that way".
Twenty minutes later, after thoroughly scrubbing his skin until it turned pink, and then gently squeezing the excess water from his hair, Q started to feel more like his usual self.
One of the alphas had left clean clothes for him just outside the door - a shirt that smelled like Alec and a soft tracksuit that smelled like James - and after putting them on, he picked up the clothes he'd been wearing this morning to put them in the laundry basket.
Lifting up the lid of the hamper, he paused.
His own clothes stared back at him - a warm tangerine shirt with a torn collar and skinny jeans that were missing a button - and both of them were covered in red.
"Q, pup, it would make us very… happy, if you could answer us".
There was red on his shirt and on his hands and on his face.
"We'll give you new clothes to wear, and we can wash your clothes too since they're covered in red".
He slowly closed the top of the basket and turned back to the bathroom counter.
There were two toothbrushes next to the sink - one white and one red. There was a red-stained nail brush on the other side, too, and one of the hand towels had tiny splatters of red as well.
… Huh.
Q got dressed methodologically, his mind racing at a million miles an hour. He could only remember flashes of Friday night and even less of the day before, but he did remember the red - red all over him, over James, over the bastard who had tried to-
Only it wasn't red, now, was it?
He wondered, distantly, if James had simply thrown out his own clothes given the amount of blood that had stained them.
Returning to the kitchen, his agents noticed the shift in him immediately, but while Alec immediately stood to switch on the kettle, James met his gaze unflinchingly.
"... Did you shoot him?"
"No" he replied, calmly, "I ripped his fucking throat out with my teeth".
"Oh" he said, just as evenly, "Okay then".
It probably wasn't a sign of good mental health to find reassurance in that, but Q didn't care. It probably also wasn't a sign of good mental health to find comfort in the arms of two serial killers, so on the grand scale of things, being happy about the death of his abuser seemed pretty small in comparison.
"Thank you" he added, belatedly, and James smiled, that small genuine smile that made his blue eyes crinkle at the edges. "Given that it was something you once threatened me with, I thought it would be rather fitting… Poetic irony, if you will".
He huffed. "Only you could turn murder into an art form!"
He grinned as if the omega had meant it as a compliment.
Q wasn't entirely sure that he hadn't.
Slowly retaking his seat at the kitchen table, he gave Alec a grateful look as the man slid another cup of earl grey in front of him.
So.
They really had killed that prick.
Or, more specifically, James had - after Duncan and Saif no doubt caused some serious damage.
He wondered if it was cruel of him to feel a thrill of satisfaction at the thought of that.
"Should I be asking a clean-up crew to pay a visit to that nightclub?"
"It's already taken care of" James replied easily, "After you passed out on the way home, I gave Bill a call. He said he'd help the rest of the pack with it".
"Bill?" He frowned, confused. "As in- As in Bill Tanner? The Chief of Staff?!"
"Yep".
"You're joking".
They both stared back at him, straight-faced, but given that they lied for a living, that wasn't exactly reassuring.
"There is no way in hell that you got the Chief of Staff of MI6 to cover up the murder of a civilian for you!"
"Sure we did". James shrugged. "Bill's a good guy".
Q needed a nap.
Or, even better, a bottle of whiskey.
Or, perhaps, both.
"And what happens when he tells M?!"
"He won't". This time it was Alec who answered. "Like James said, he's a good guy… I also bribed Moneypenny into lying for us".
"Lying how?!"
"I told her to tell M that you were off sick".
"And- And what? That my sickness just- just spread to all nine of you?"
"Sure, I guess".
Q stared at them.
"... Please tell me you're not that stupid".
Alec frowned. "What's stupid about it?"
"Do you mean to tell me that you honestly think that the Head of MI6 will believe for even one moment that all nine double-0s plus the Quartermaster contracted the exact same illness at the exact same time without anyone else also getting sick despite the fact that Eve came with us on Friday night and I spend just as much time surrounded by members of my branch as I do with you and yet none of them are displaying even the slightest symptoms of a fucking cold?!"
Alec blinked.
James frowned.
They shared a look.
"... Alright, so, maybe that wasn't our brightest moment".
Q couldn't help it - he laughed.
He laughed until his stomach ached just as much as the rest of him, until he had tears burning in his eyes, until both alphas were giving the same identical concerned expression.
He may have liked them, really really liked them, he may have even loved them, and he sure as hell loved the rest of the pack too, albeit in a different way - but they truly were absolute idiots if they thought that one of the smartest men they knew wasn't going to see through that pathetic excuse in one second flat.
"But hey, if he hasn't called us by now, then that must mean that our excuse worked, right?" Alec tried, attempting to reassure himself as much as anyone else.
"You mean if he hasn't called me by now" Q corrected, running the back of his sleeve over his eyes, still grinning, "Given that it'll be a cold day in hell before M ever willingly contacts a double-0".
"Potato-potahto". The blond shrugged. "Either way, neither of us has heard a phone ringing at any point, and the others would have told us if M had rang one of them, so… Maybe he believed us".
"Or, far more likely, Moneypenny made up a much better excuse" James added, somewhat sheepishly.
Q doubted it - not that he didn't believe that Eve could be particularly convincing when she wanted to; she had once been a successful agent herself, after all - but M was far smarter than any of the double-0s gave him credit for, so he didn't doubt for one minute that he hadn't realised that his secretary for covering for his wayward Quartermaster, no matter what she'd already told him.
However, as Alec had said, if the man himself hadn't contacted Q by now, then he must have been okay with giving them the benefit of the doubt… Well, that and the fact he hadn't used any of his sick days yet and M was starting to get on his case about it.
Potato-potahto or whatever.
"When did you say we're expected back?"
"Not until Tuesday at the earliest" Alec replied, and the omega slowly nodded.
If M hadn't contacted him, then he wasn't going to contact M.
Instead, he was going to revel in the fact he had two whole days for himself, and bask in the knowledge that he was about to spend those two whole days with the two people he cared about the most.