lepidopterologist

Harry reached out and adjusted Q's glasses, his thumb brushing his cheek as he pulled away. "There, that's better."

"Thank you," Q said, leaning into the touch slightly.

Harry's hand lingered.

Then he pulled away, almost abruptly. "Q, I'm - not sure this is a good idea."

Q didn't either, but he'd found, recently, he was quite a fan of terrible ideas.

"We can stop if you're uncomfortable," the boffin assured him.

"I'm not uncomfortable," Harry said. "I'm too comfortable. I ah, I don't think you are a useful partner for this exercise. I react differently to you than I might to anyone else."

"We're too familiar already, perhaps?" Q guessed.

"Something like that," said Harry quietly.

"Perhaps you could try with Bond? He's the expert after all," Q snorted, shaking his head and then sighing.

"I'm afraid my pride couldn't take such a hit," Harry said, nearly shuddering at the thought of confessing his inexperience to Bond. "Besides, I don't think that his strategies are quite what I'm after."

"Maybe you don't need a strategy at all. You're handsome, kind, a very warm person, I think. People will be drawn to that naturally," Q assured him.

Warm. Harry was fairly certain no one had ever described him as warm. He could be. With someone he felt close enough to. There was warmth, he thought, when he stood beside Eggsy at his wedding. Perhaps even a paternal warmth, but that wasn't what he felt for Q.

"Your assessment may be a bit subjective, but... thank you."

"Perhaps, but I think you're lovely, and I have it on very good authority that I'm brilliant," Q grinned, all boyish charm for a moment.

"Q - "

He was going to regret this. But it had to be better than turning himself in knots.

He reached across the table again and grabbed Q's hand. "I think you're lovely, too. I don't expect anything, not at all, but it's true."

The fact that Q seemed startled really spoke volumes. The boffin was bright, but absolutely shit at reading people sometimes.

"Oh. ...Oh," he said, his brain slowly making sense of it all. It was shocking, but... Nice, in a way. Harry was handsome after all, and Q had grown fond of him very quickly. He was certainly less likely to wound his heart than Bond was... But oh, for all he was very fond of Harry, tempted by him even, he knew there was no way he could just let go of his feelings for Bond.

"Well, this is all shaping up to be terribly complicated, isn't it?" he said softly, giving Harry's hand a squeeze and letting the touch linger.

The reaction certainly could have been far worse, and Harry felt himself relax a little.

"I'm sorry for that," he said gently. "I don't mean to complicate things further for you. I just didn't want to mislead you."

"No, it's... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested, or if I said I wasn't curious. However, I'd also be a liar if I didn't admit that Bond has quite a hold on me right now. ...I'm also- Oh, Harry, I'm not sure I'm someone you want to get tangled up with. I'm an odd mess of a man," Q admitted, suddenly looking almost ashamed as he let go of the other man's hand. "Honestly, you should probably be warning Bond away from me."

"We all are," said Harry, counting Bond in that as well. "I think that's why we're so comfortable." And why the only men he'd truly had feelings for in the past decades, unrequited as it had been, were always more of the same.

And he felt surprise as well to hear Q confess his interest, impractical as it was. He'd meant it when he said he hadn't expected anything. He was, after all, far too old for Q.

"Damaged attracts damaged?" Q asked with a soft chuckle and a smile, his expression softening again.

"Something like that," Harry agreed with a soft smile of his own. He was glad he was sitting across the table, lest he do something very stupid, like try to kiss him, but couldn't stop himself from stretching out his hand a bit again, to brush his fingers against Q's. "But I think I have more years of baggage than you deserve."

Bond chose that moment to come back with Jack. The pup heeled well and when Bond released the leash, Jack went to Harry. Which meant Bond looked at Harry first. And the fact that he was holding Q's hand.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked dryly, his mouth a tight line. That he was jealous was no secret, but usually he had a better poker face.

Bond could be very hard to read, but Q could read that just fine. He should have pulled his hand away- But didn't. He wasn't going to push Harry away just because Bond was sulking.

"No, we're just chatting," the boffin replied mildly.

Harry was rather shocked when Q didn't pull away from him when Bond walked in. He offered Q a little smile, and then pulled his hand away himself, reaching down with it to pet Jack. "Would you like some tea?" he asked.

Yes, the jealousy was more than obvious.

Harry couldn't help but think that if this was the moment that pushed the two of them together, he was going to be extremely annoyed with himself.

For a moment Bond felt foolish in his jealousy. Q was so placid and Harry consumately polite. There were a hundred reasons why they could have been sitting like that. Just because Bond was shit at offering comfort it didn't mean there was anything going on...

"Something stronger, I think," he said and brushed past the pair so he could take a bottle he'd pinched from the hotel.

"Ah yes, is it noon already?" Q drawled, shaking his head. "When was the last time you put something green inside you, James? How do you function on nothing but scotch and sex?"

And Bond had definitely been having sex in that odd city that had popped up a few weeks back. Q could always tell.

"I was going to offer to cook," Harry said to Q. For you, he didn't add. "Perhaps James should join us."

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