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nia_kantorkaWhen I write one pairing, I have a hard time reading precisely about these characters. That's why, while I was writing my bang story, I read lots of James Bond fanfics. I did so after I saw Skyfall in summer too and now I have quite a collection of really great 00Q fics to share. Well, can't share them all, so here are three stories that stayed with me and are still flittering through my mind every once in a while. Enjoy!
Title: Monsters at Our Back
Author/Artist:
thejabberwock (bondsboffin)
Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies)
Pairing(s) James Bond/Q
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 18.932
Warnings/Tags: Trauma, Deceit, Betrayal, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Guilt, Alternate Universe, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Fucking, Blowjobs, Frottage, Clothed Sex, Rough Sex, Barebacking, Explicit Sexual Content, Semi-Public Sex, Trauma Recovery, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Discussions of Suicide
Summary: After Q betrays him, Bond pulls him from the water and breathes him back to life. And then he walks away and doesn't look back. Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace AU
Why I loved it: The idea of this story, that Q is Vesper while he is also MI6's Quartermaster was absolutely brilliant. Don't worry - Q doesn't drown in Venice, but James nearly goes mad over Q's betrayal, and things are everything but easy for them after Venice. It's a rough story and yet I loved it, because I could relate quite well to James and to Q too. It's the hardest to forgive someone you love, who abused your trust. Can such a relationship heal? Does it count if someone was blackmailed and lied to you, but still had good intentions? That that person wanted to safe their boyfriend and the person they fell in love with to do so?
Yes, it's a tricky fic which makes you question your moral principles. Thejabberwock's characterisations are great and far from the usual black and white ones. For example James treated Q horrible for a while, who just took it because he felt so guilty. Yep, sometimes I wanted to shake them badly, but they got there. Aren't the things you have to fight hard for the best?
Excerpt:
Q was blackmailed. It fits every one of their interactions. His prickly demeanor on the train, the slightly manic desperation that Bond win the poker game, that damn watch he kept touching like a talisman.
Every action that of a man fearing for his lover's life.
A fear Bond understands all too well.
Bond draws in a slow breath. He pushes it out again; a vain attempt to expel the ache.
But knowing that Q didn't set out to betray him doesn't help.
Nothing will.
>00Q<
Title: Mélomanie
Author/Artist: dhampir72
Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies)
Pairing(s) James Bond/Q
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 40.671
Warnings/Tags: Slow Build, Music, Angst
Summary: After Skyfall, Bond moves into a new flat and falls in love with the music upstairs. [With Audio] ~
Mélomanie (French) - an excessive, abnormal love and deep attraction to music and melody
Why I loved it: This fic. Oh my god, this fic. It's so awesome. James has this neighbour in the flat above his own who plays the most beauftiful songs on the piano and the violin. They start to talk via notes and the mysterious stranger even records songs for him on CD. At work he becomes friends with Q and the more he gets to know him, the more he falls for him. But things aren't running smoothly and James - a badass in all situations - is not at all sure of himself when it comes to love and feelings. So he ruins this thing with Q ... but there's still the music from above.
It's easy to see from the beginning what this story is about and yet, it was written so beautifully that it broke my heart and put it back together again in the end. Dhampir72 has an absolute wonderful way with words and I have several of her stories bookmarked. Seriously, they are all so good. But of course this one was special. I love music, and while listening to the recommended songs, that all matched their respective scences, I found some gems of piano music and discovered a lot of things.
For example my favourite song of Mélomanie was and is 'Cloud Atlas Sextet' by Tom Tywker (Do you remember that he directed 'Perfume - Story of a Murderer' the movie which gained BW international success in 2006?). I got curious about it and learned that Cloud Atlas is a novel by David Mitchell and that a movie excists too. Guess what? It's a movie by Lana and Lily Wachowski (the formaly Wachowski brothers, whose 'V for Vendetta' is one of my all-time-favourites) and Tywker. I could go on about what other music I found because of this fic, but actually this should be about the story. I case it didn't come across: It's one of the most wonderful stories I read in 2016. Not the best, that'll be part of another post, but it is definitely in the top ten. I can only rec Mélomanie wholeheartedly!
Excerpt:
But there was no violin tonight. No piano, either. Bond thought that perhaps the stranger hadn't meant it after all. Maybe they were just trying to be polite and Bond had woken them up for no reason. He lay back down and stared at the ceiling, feeling guilty for rousing the nameless person above him at such an hour, wondering how on earth he could apologise...
And then he heard it.
The notes were so soft that Bond almost missed them entirely. They meshed with the rain, something indescribably beautiful and sad. But as the song progressed, there was something born of that pain, something a bit more hopeful, though still somehow very fragile. Bond couldn't attribute the feeling to any single word in the English language or any image. It was something that transcended all knowledge and experience while at the same time encompassing all of it.
It was heartbreaking.
And then the music quieted, until it was just as it had started, a soft and lonely murmur against his skin. The last notes seemed to reverberate long after the player had stopped and returned to bed. Bond stared at the ceiling in the dark and wished he understood how this person he never met could play music that touched him so deeply, so intimately.
He wondered, just for a moment, if it was impossible to fall in love without ever having met.
>00Q<
Title: Normal
Author/Artist: hyphyp
Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies)
Pairing(s) James Bond/Q
Rating: R
Word Count: 5.154
Warnings/Tags: Fluff, Everyone Loves Q, Bisexual Q
Summary: In which Bond is not the most interesting person Q has ever been with. He's not even in the top five. (Or: Five people who want Q, plus the one Q wants.)
Why I loved it: After two angsty stories a funny one at last. This fic was hilarious. Q's exes. Gosh, I laughed my arse off. How James got more and more jealous the more he met in person. I mean it's hilarious just to think about, isn't it? James Bond - playboy with so many bedmates that there aren't even enough bedposts for all the notches he could make - becomes jealous of the ex-lovers of his boyfriend. LOL It's a shorter story, but it's amazing to distract you if you had a shitty day and just need something to laugh about.
Excerpt:
“Did you know he used to date a celebrity?” Bond asks.
Moneypenny’s shoulders fall and she rolls her eyes.
“Oh, that,” she says. “Which one?”
“What do you mean, ‘which one?’”
“I mean,” she says, “Which one? There are two that I’m aware of, although there could be more. God knows that boy goes through them. Let’s see, there’s the actor who he’s always whinging about – apparently one of the Q branch girls hung a picture in her cubicle and it drives him mad – and then there’s the rock star.”
“The rock star,” Bond repeats.
“Yes, I never understood how that happened,” she confides.
“No,” Bond agrees, because he doesn’t understand anything.
“I mean, Q so obviously could have done better,” she continues on. “He was self-absorbed and vain and always left this heinous trail of body glitter everywhere he went. I got some on one of my favorite skirts and it didn’t come off completely for months. Sometimes Q would come in in the morning and – ” She raises a hand to cover an un-ladylike snort at a memory. “ – and he’d have glitter on his face or in his hair and he’d just glare a anyone who pointed it out. It was a bit like he was necking some kind of hellish fairy or something. Shakespeare’s Puck.” She pauses and looks thoughtful. “Come to think of it, that might have been the appeal. Q’s an odd one like that.”
“Yes,” Bond agrees vehemently.
“Well, they broke up anyway,” Moneypenny shrugs. “And he’s not the worst Q’s dated, you know.”
She laughs, a little mockingly Bond thinks. Probably because she’s aware that Bond doesn’t know anything at all.
>00Q<
Title: Monsters at Our Back
Author/Artist:
Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies)
Pairing(s) James Bond/Q
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 18.932
Warnings/Tags: Trauma, Deceit, Betrayal, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Guilt, Alternate Universe, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Fucking, Blowjobs, Frottage, Clothed Sex, Rough Sex, Barebacking, Explicit Sexual Content, Semi-Public Sex, Trauma Recovery, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Discussions of Suicide
Summary: After Q betrays him, Bond pulls him from the water and breathes him back to life. And then he walks away and doesn't look back. Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace AU
Why I loved it: The idea of this story, that Q is Vesper while he is also MI6's Quartermaster was absolutely brilliant. Don't worry - Q doesn't drown in Venice, but James nearly goes mad over Q's betrayal, and things are everything but easy for them after Venice. It's a rough story and yet I loved it, because I could relate quite well to James and to Q too. It's the hardest to forgive someone you love, who abused your trust. Can such a relationship heal? Does it count if someone was blackmailed and lied to you, but still had good intentions? That that person wanted to safe their boyfriend and the person they fell in love with to do so?
Yes, it's a tricky fic which makes you question your moral principles. Thejabberwock's characterisations are great and far from the usual black and white ones. For example James treated Q horrible for a while, who just took it because he felt so guilty. Yep, sometimes I wanted to shake them badly, but they got there. Aren't the things you have to fight hard for the best?
Excerpt:
Q was blackmailed. It fits every one of their interactions. His prickly demeanor on the train, the slightly manic desperation that Bond win the poker game, that damn watch he kept touching like a talisman.
Every action that of a man fearing for his lover's life.
A fear Bond understands all too well.
Bond draws in a slow breath. He pushes it out again; a vain attempt to expel the ache.
But knowing that Q didn't set out to betray him doesn't help.
Nothing will.
Title: Mélomanie
Author/Artist:
Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies)
Pairing(s) James Bond/Q
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 40.671
Warnings/Tags: Slow Build, Music, Angst
Summary: After Skyfall, Bond moves into a new flat and falls in love with the music upstairs. [With Audio] ~
Mélomanie (French) - an excessive, abnormal love and deep attraction to music and melody
Why I loved it: This fic. Oh my god, this fic. It's so awesome. James has this neighbour in the flat above his own who plays the most beauftiful songs on the piano and the violin. They start to talk via notes and the mysterious stranger even records songs for him on CD. At work he becomes friends with Q and the more he gets to know him, the more he falls for him. But things aren't running smoothly and James - a badass in all situations - is not at all sure of himself when it comes to love and feelings. So he ruins this thing with Q ... but there's still the music from above.
It's easy to see from the beginning what this story is about and yet, it was written so beautifully that it broke my heart and put it back together again in the end. Dhampir72 has an absolute wonderful way with words and I have several of her stories bookmarked. Seriously, they are all so good. But of course this one was special. I love music, and while listening to the recommended songs, that all matched their respective scences, I found some gems of piano music and discovered a lot of things.
For example my favourite song of Mélomanie was and is 'Cloud Atlas Sextet' by Tom Tywker (Do you remember that he directed 'Perfume - Story of a Murderer' the movie which gained BW international success in 2006?). I got curious about it and learned that Cloud Atlas is a novel by David Mitchell and that a movie excists too. Guess what? It's a movie by Lana and Lily Wachowski (the formaly Wachowski brothers, whose 'V for Vendetta' is one of my all-time-favourites) and Tywker. I could go on about what other music I found because of this fic, but actually this should be about the story. I case it didn't come across: It's one of the most wonderful stories I read in 2016. Not the best, that'll be part of another post, but it is definitely in the top ten. I can only rec Mélomanie wholeheartedly!
Excerpt:
But there was no violin tonight. No piano, either. Bond thought that perhaps the stranger hadn't meant it after all. Maybe they were just trying to be polite and Bond had woken them up for no reason. He lay back down and stared at the ceiling, feeling guilty for rousing the nameless person above him at such an hour, wondering how on earth he could apologise...
And then he heard it.
The notes were so soft that Bond almost missed them entirely. They meshed with the rain, something indescribably beautiful and sad. But as the song progressed, there was something born of that pain, something a bit more hopeful, though still somehow very fragile. Bond couldn't attribute the feeling to any single word in the English language or any image. It was something that transcended all knowledge and experience while at the same time encompassing all of it.
It was heartbreaking.
And then the music quieted, until it was just as it had started, a soft and lonely murmur against his skin. The last notes seemed to reverberate long after the player had stopped and returned to bed. Bond stared at the ceiling in the dark and wished he understood how this person he never met could play music that touched him so deeply, so intimately.
He wondered, just for a moment, if it was impossible to fall in love without ever having met.
Title: Normal
Author/Artist:
Fandom: James Bond (Craig movies)
Pairing(s) James Bond/Q
Rating: R
Word Count: 5.154
Warnings/Tags: Fluff, Everyone Loves Q, Bisexual Q
Summary: In which Bond is not the most interesting person Q has ever been with. He's not even in the top five. (Or: Five people who want Q, plus the one Q wants.)
Why I loved it: After two angsty stories a funny one at last. This fic was hilarious. Q's exes. Gosh, I laughed my arse off. How James got more and more jealous the more he met in person. I mean it's hilarious just to think about, isn't it? James Bond - playboy with so many bedmates that there aren't even enough bedposts for all the notches he could make - becomes jealous of the ex-lovers of his boyfriend. LOL It's a shorter story, but it's amazing to distract you if you had a shitty day and just need something to laugh about.
Excerpt:
“Did you know he used to date a celebrity?” Bond asks.
Moneypenny’s shoulders fall and she rolls her eyes.
“Oh, that,” she says. “Which one?”
“What do you mean, ‘which one?’”
“I mean,” she says, “Which one? There are two that I’m aware of, although there could be more. God knows that boy goes through them. Let’s see, there’s the actor who he’s always whinging about – apparently one of the Q branch girls hung a picture in her cubicle and it drives him mad – and then there’s the rock star.”
“The rock star,” Bond repeats.
“Yes, I never understood how that happened,” she confides.
“No,” Bond agrees, because he doesn’t understand anything.
“I mean, Q so obviously could have done better,” she continues on. “He was self-absorbed and vain and always left this heinous trail of body glitter everywhere he went. I got some on one of my favorite skirts and it didn’t come off completely for months. Sometimes Q would come in in the morning and – ” She raises a hand to cover an un-ladylike snort at a memory. “ – and he’d have glitter on his face or in his hair and he’d just glare a anyone who pointed it out. It was a bit like he was necking some kind of hellish fairy or something. Shakespeare’s Puck.” She pauses and looks thoughtful. “Come to think of it, that might have been the appeal. Q’s an odd one like that.”
“Yes,” Bond agrees vehemently.
“Well, they broke up anyway,” Moneypenny shrugs. “And he’s not the worst Q’s dated, you know.”
She laughs, a little mockingly Bond thinks. Probably because she’s aware that Bond doesn’t know anything at all.
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no subject
Date: 2016-11-01 07:16 pm (UTC)All three sound like must-reads. Thank you for putting together such an exquisite collection of 00Q fic! ♥
no subject
Date: 2016-11-01 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-01 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-01 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-01 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-02 06:25 am (UTC)I'm glad that even these small excerpts and summaries show these authors' way with words. There are so incredibly talented people out there, everywhere. As a multishipper you might miss some things in hp fandom, but yeah, there are so many other gorgeous things to explore. :D
Yay, recs! I've missed to write them. If there were just more time... ;p
no subject
Date: 2016-11-02 10:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-11-03 06:14 am (UTC)Please tell me if you enjoyed it when you'll find the time. :D