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Tiger, Tiger
The first time Q saw it (he refused to even think about the word - nope, no deal) he rubbed his eyes and blamed it on the exhaustion that was making him hallucinate, proceeded to pack up his stuff - why did he always bring so many things with himself at the office? - and left for a much needed and well-deserved holiday weekend after draining the last, tepid dregs of his tea.
The second time it happened Q pinched himself and squinted, eyes burning because the optometrist had put atropine drops in his them to check that everything was in working order before starting to discuss a new prescription for his glasses (he was getting blinder every day that passed so, it wasn't that unlikely that he was seeing things that weren't actually there: his eyes were playing games with him)
The third time he did what every crappy self-help psychology manual all over the internet said not to do, in any case: Q acknowledged the hallucination "Bond.. did you turn into a panther?" He inquired warily, after spotting a very telling long and silky black tail.
Two days earlier, it had been a leopard (certainly the agent hadn't painted his face like that? It was a carnival party trick)
The week before, he'd pinched himself and not woken up when he thought he had seen a lion's mane shining like a halo around the other man's face.
At the beginning of June, it had been the barely there after image of a paw.
The problem was, everything Q had seen, had had a translucent look to it as if it was shimmering in and out of reality, making Q doubt about their existence at all.
"How long has it been since you've last slept?" James inquired, arching up an eyebrow as he bent down to study Q's face "You look like it has been quite a while"
Q batted the agent's pointing finger away, scowling at him and flushing at the same time, knowing that he had quite dark circles around his eyes that didn't look attractive in the least "Stop it and tell me the truth" he demanded "You had a tail, I know you had one"
"You sound a little hysterical" James pointed out.
And yes, Q didn't need Bond to point it out - he very well knew that he sounded like a raging fanatic preaching about non-existent things "You sound a lot like an arse" Q snarked back and gripped the agent's wrist to tug him closer and squint at him, in search of any signs that would prove him right.
"Stop poking at me" James sighed, wrestling out of Q's grip and grinned before kissing the younger man's brow and walking away "Or not like this - I do enjoy other kinds of poking" he tossed behind his back.
"I'll find out your secret!" Q shouted, huffing as he tugged his cardigan back in place and glared at the minions who had turned to look at them "Go back to work!" He ordered, sitting in front of his computer.
He wasn't crazy - a little stressed maybe, but not crazy. Q kept repeating those words to himself, a slow mantra that helped him to reign back his nerves.
For a while, Bond didn't show any feline characteristics and he even seemed to be a lot more obedient during missions; Q couldn't help thinking that the agent was trying to deceive him, lulling him into a false sense of security (he was aware of the fact that he was getting a little paranoid, no matter what he trusted Bond with his life - if not with his sanity) so that he would forget about the whole ordeal.
Up until the moment Q found a bloody tiger in his living room and almost had an heart attack "Bond?" He inquired warily, hands held up and hunched over himself in an attempt at appearing as small and harmless as possible while also trying to make his panicking brain shut the hell up.
The tiger let out a - menacing? Friendly? (Could tigers even be friendly?) - noise and stood up to rub against Q's shins, not unlike a cuddly kitten, clearly not quite aware of its strength and weight since it made the young man stumble.
After regaining his balance, Q tentatively petted the agent's-turned-tiger head and couldn't hold back a little smile when the large animal pushed into it "You made me believe I was going insane, you bastard" he chided. The tiger purred loudly and Q chuckled, taking a hold of the supple skin at the nape of its neck and shook it in a scolding manner "Don't purr at me, mister. Tomorrow you're in for a bollocking"