Work Text:
Comets
James sighed heavily as he looked down at Q, passed out and drooling over his keyboard: it was such an adorable sight that he almost couldn't find it in himself, the energy to be angry at him for once again overworking himself.
"Will you stare at him for much longer or are you dragging him home any time soon?" Eve asked, a teasing grin appearing on her lips: it was a renown fact that the big and scary Double-oh Seven had the biggest soft spot for the alien Quartermaster and that he was completely smitten with him, resulting in an absurd overprotectiveness - people couldn't even look at Q vaguely wrong that they'd have a threatening agent, with no much sense of self-restrain, menacingly breathing down their necks.
James glared at Eve but he bent down anyway and scooped Q up in his arms, frowning at how easy it was; no matter how much Q ate - and he did, rather a lot - he seemed unable to gain more than a couple of kilos: the popular opinion in Medical was that Q's body wasn't designed to digest, and therefore absorb, most of the nutrients in human food. To be fair, for once, the doctors had offered a good plan of action but it was Q who had refused to follow it: he loathed the idea of slowly inserting in his diet one kind of food at a time, with the prospect of being later deprived of things he liked to eat but shouldn't because they were useless for his body.
As if aware of the agent's presence even in his sleep, Q relaxed to the point that a couple of tentacles slithered out and lethargically wrapped themselves around James' shoulders; their usual whiteness was dotted with bright splashes of yellow and green and James smiled, pleased that the other was apparently having a pleasant dream.
"Look at you, so sweet" Eve teased as she quickly started to gather Q's things and put them back in his laptop bag "Are you taking him at yours?"
"Yes, it's easier than going through all the security checks to get in his flat" James was pretty sure that it was an expression of Q's lingering fear of humans that not even years of close contact had managed to quite eradicate. Of course, the fact that Q trusted him completely and wasn't scared of him at all, it only contributed to make his smugness grow - just like the other agents' envy. Not even advertising that Q was an alien worked to discourage the other Double-ohs from trying to get the Quartermaster's attention like a bunch of spoiled and whiny kids.
"James?" Q purred confused, burying his face in the other's neck and breathing in the familiar scent of gun oil and a spicy cologne that made him dream of exotic destinations he had never been to "Can I have tea?"
"In the morning"
"Want it now" Q pouted, a tentacle slipping upwards to gently tug at James' ear in a pleading manner, not even hearing Eve's delighted snigger or the sound of the car door being opened, so that he could be buckled in.
James barely suppressed an endeared laugh "We'll see at home, deal?" He proposed, knowing that Q would be out cold again by the time they arrived at his flat.
Q's tentacles briefly tightened their grip on the agent before letting him go and snuggling in the car seat "'kay. Can we sleep together?" He asked, peeling his eyelids open to look up at the other.
"I'm so going to tell everyone about this"
"Yes, of course we can" James reassured, stepping not too gently over Eve's foot to shut her up as he bent down to bestow a kiss on Q's cheek.
Neither he nor Eve noticed the little star seemingly falling down the alien's cheek, a burst of light under his skin, getting lost in the honey-hued yellow of Q's dreams.
James woke up to a faceful of tentacles and the weirdly synchronized rhythm of three hearts, beating slowly.
The first time he had let Q snuggle up to him, after an excruciating but rather necessary visit with a doctor, James had been startled at the sudden realisation that he could hear three distinct heartbeats coming from the alien. And yes, it had taken him more time to get used to that than to tentacles sleepily petting him in the morning.
Gently, James pushed the tentacles away from his face and huffed in amusement when one of those appendages annoyedly slapped his hand away "Good morning"
"Shut up" Q harrumphed, clearly displeased with the fact that his human pillow was moving around and talking when all he wanted to do was to sleep.
James carefully flipped them over "Yessir" he grinned, purposefully giving Q and obnoxiously loud kiss over the forehead that made the alien squirm in displeasure. Then, he slipped away and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Like the rest of the flat, also the kitchen had been greatly affected by Q's presence in his life. At the beginning of his career as one of the boffins in Q-branch, the alien had been released in his care and they had shared his flat, so that Q could get used to living as a human in a sheltered environment with someone ready to help if he needed anything; though, even after Q had bought a place of his own, he spent more time at James' rather than his own flat. Which meant that the fridge and the pantry were always stocked, books and used mugs were scattered around in the living room, the bathroom was filled with the alien's huge amount of hair products and bath bombs and scrubs - in short, Q had made James' pristine and cold house into a home.
One of the first things Q had gotten obsessed with, it was tea. So, James put the kettle on before going to explore the fridge and find something to eat for breakfast; Q ate almost everything - they still bickered over spinach sometimes, though - but James tended to spoil the alien and wanted to make his favourites whenever he had the ingredients on hand.
The pancake batter was still fresh enough, since he had made it the morning before, and he settled for making a fruit salad and whipping up some cream to go with them.
Satisfied with the menu, James started cooking while humming an old song to himself as he confidently handled knives and pans.
When Q heard the kettle hiss, he dragged himself out of the bed and made his way to the kitchen, yawning and stretching carefully as he made sure that the sheet didn't slide away from around his narrow hips.
Getting used to clothes had been quite the challenge, if he was to be honest: his species didn't use anything to cover themselves, not when the colours and patterns swirling under their skin was a huge part of their interactions, besides their words. No matter how much he liked woollen jumpers and tweed pants, Q still thought that having to cover himself was quite weird.
So, at home, while with only James' company, he had assumed that going around naked would be fine - certainly humans didn't use clothes even when in their houses? But his assumption had been quickly proved wrong when James had choked on his saliva at the sight of his bare body stretched on the couch.
Later, James had explained to him that he wasn't bothered by nudity and that he just hadn't been expecting it - still, from then on, Q was always careful to wear something. At least out of bed: while sleeping, he still needed to be just in his skin and thankfully James never made him feel uneasy about it.
Rubbing at his eyes with a tentacle, Q lifted the kettle and poured the hot water in two mugs "What time is it?"
"Half past nine" James answered, putting a slice of pineapple close to Q's tentacles, so that they could snatch it.
"Too damn early" Q scowled before popping the whole piece of fruit in his mouth; as the juice of the pineapple burst on his tongue, sweet and tangy at the same time, Q closed his eyes and hummed in pleasure: food definitely was one upper side about being stranded on Earth - that and James "I don't have to be at work until later this afternoon"
James turned around and hugged Q from behind, affectionately nuzzling his neck "So, you can have all the time in the world to have a relaxing bath before dinner" he suggested, kissing Q's nape.
Another star fell unnoticed, slipping down Q's spine.