Work Text:
Pictures
James, his chin poised over the back of his entwined hands in a contemplating manner, observed Eve scroll through Q's phone with a constant grin on her face, broken only by a chuckle here and there.
The sight bothered him - an euphemism to describe the bubbling ugly mix of anger and jealousy making his stomach feel tight and unsettled - for the grand total of two reasons:
1. He and Q were kind of secretly dating - or James liked to think so, even if the younger man hadn't said a word about their situation and he was ashamed to admit that he tossed and turned at night, thinking that he might be just a stress free fuck for him.
2. Q never let James close to his phone, kept it always close to his person or stashed away in a drawer when they were naked, and regularly changed the password to make sure that he didn't peek in it - not that James had the burning need to spy on Q but still..
Still, James seethed and had to stomp down on the instinctive need to lean over and start a tug of war with Eve for the possession of the little sleek piece of technology "What are you laughing about?" He inquired as slyly as possible "Weren't you in a foul mood just two minutes ago?"
Just before Eve took a hold of Q's mobile: was she laughing behind his back at the sweet texts he sent the boffin? With Q approval to boot? Or was he just being paranoid?
Eve raised her eyes, a hand plastered over her mouth to muffle a laugh as she turned around the phone - evidently Q hadn't told her that James wasn't allowed to look into it and the agent wasn't going to tell her so - to show him what was on the screen "She's the most hilarious cat"
James arched an eyebrow at the demonic white cat evilly staring down at him even from a photograph "Hilarious?" He asked, even as the one true question ringing in his mind was why the hell was Eve looking at pictures of Pampuria?
"She looks like an angry princess" she grinned, swiping her thumb over the screen to show the agent more pictures of Q's cats; she chuckled at the most ridiculous pictures while James' expression grew more perplexed every second that passed: in Q's mobile there were only pictures of Pampuria and Turing, not even one of a car or a meme...
Or one of James - a fact that the agent was pretty bothered about; he had known that was less important than the cats to Q, that they were his precious babies, but he had hoped that the younger man held him in a slightly higher regard.
"Eve!" Q shouted, one hand plastered against his forehead as he watched his best friend show to his secret boyfriend the contents of his phone: he definitely didn't want James to know just how much of a crazy cat lady he was, even if the man had seen him actually spoonfeed Pampuria when she was sick a couple of months before.
"Q!" Eve swivelled around on her chair to smile up at the Quartermaster, waving his mobile in the air "Why aren't your cats MI6 mascots? Their pictures should be all over Headquarters!"
The younger man snatched the phone from her hand, shooting James an apologetic glance and a nervous smile once he noticed how glum the agent looked "I need this, my dear - work calls" he hastily excused himself, making a run for his office.
"But that's your private phone!" Eve shouted at him, swivelling her chair back to face James - who had quickly gotten up and was apparently following Q, looking very much like a lost puppy "But I was just starting to feel nice" she sighed as stood up and smoothed the creases in her skirt before making her way out of Q-branch and back at her desk in front of M's office.
Meanwhile, James slipped inside the room with Q "So.. you have a lot of pictures of your cats"
Not the start Q had been hoping for and he whinced before turning around to innocently smile up at James "You know how it is, they're-"
"-Your babies" the agent concluded for him "You don't have even a picture of me" he blurted out.
"Wait.. aren't you upset that your boyfriend is a crazy cat lady?"
James frowned "What? I already knew that" he answered and, before the last words got out of his mouth, he had an armful of cooing and cuddly Quartermaster plastered against his chest "Are you okay?"
Q nodded "I was afraid you hated that side of me" he murmured as he unlocked his phone and dug through the hidden files. He grinned when he found what he was looking for, turning the mobile towards the agent to show him a picture of his boyfriend: James was sleeping under a blanket, curled on the couch with a book hugged to his chest "Of course I have pictures of you, my love: they're just hidden"
"Why?"
Q stood on his tiptoes and kissed James' lips "Because you're precious to me, silly"