World Enough and Time

Time for me to recommend a few of my favourite James Bond/Q fics from Archive of our Own. These are mostly - maybe all of them - rated "explicit", and heavy on the sex. Generally speaking, I'm looking for four interonnected things in fanfic: good writing; good characterization; good relationship; and good sex. I don't much like violence, or AUs, or original characters. I usually won't read a story written in the present tense... though there are exceptions.

I read a lot of stories that seemed out of character for me. Some had a juvenile or feminized Q; a cruel Bond; and some, even with some very good writing, tacked a good theme onto characters who didn't to my eyes fit that theme. Others simply didn't have the quality of banter or intelligence that I see in Skyfall.

These are the ones I've enjoyed:

1. Decompression by Desdemon (nehme). Apparently Desdemon wrote this before seeing Skyfall: she must be prescient. This has the spark I was looking for, the perfect voice for each of them.
   
   "Do you find yourself in need of less cutting-edge weaponry, 007?"
   
   Bond actually smiles at this, a brief press of lips that twists to one side. He's been advancing on Q, and he shops now just an arm's length away, close enough to see just how rumpled that suit actually is. "No," he said, and his voice hits that low, silky register that takes over whenever he's around something he wants. "But I do find myself in need."
   
   
   
2. The End Is Where We Begin by stellary. Just some really beautiful wordcraftmasnship. A way with words, poignant and tense. A good grasp of characters, and roles, and needs, in relatively few words.
   
   there is the silver-headed lady who lived as a single letter and liked neither poetry nor regret. Did she suspect that she’d had a hand in shaping the monster (‘Soon your future will be as nonexistent as your past’), did she think she deserved her fate? Well, the answer will never be clear even if we wait.
   
   
   
3. Equanimity by Resonant. This came very close to my notion of "out of character", but kept pulling itself back by sheer entertainment value.
   
   "There was a very accommodating young lady at the field base in -- well, I suppose that's classified." He was smiling smugly as Q came back around. "I take my work very seriously, Quartermaster."
   
   "I know you do, Agent. I believe, in fact, that your work is the only thing you do take seriously." He dropped his voice to an intimate murmur. "It's the only one that really knows you. It's the only answer you have for those questions that trouble a man's mind when he can't sleep. It's your job, and your hobby, and your family, and your lover."
   
   
   
   
4. Merlot, really? by Meowbowwow. A short piece by someone with the silliest name in the history of fanfic, but it's a beautiful, delicious piece.
   
   When they squirm, trapped between strong arms, and moan decadently through a mouth that is as sinful being snarky as it is while wantonly uttering a monosyllabic word in the most luscious way possible, such people, they bring nights tumbling down with an arch of their back. And words dissolve in thin air like dirty secrets traded by lovers on shady corners of dark alleys.
   
   
   
5. A Mountain That Has Been Moved by melfice. This story builds beautifully from never to maybe to yes and beyond: delicate structure, delightful escalation of intensity.
   
   The burn of the scotch is all but numb now in the back of his throat, on the tip of his tongue, and it reminds Q why his preferred drink of choice has always been brandy. Though he can appreciate the edge scotch takes off of Bond's smile, the way it relaxes the tension in his fingers as they curve around the glass. He imagines if his own hands were so rough, so worn and callused from years of abuse, and how they might feel against the cold, smoothness of the snifter.
   
   
   
6. no gods are present, no wings no halos by paxlux. Heavier on the violence than I like, but with great dialogue. Maybe this won me over by mentioning Sekhmet, using Latin, and referencing T.S. Eliot. Irresistible.
   
   
   
   “At least you can throw a punch,” he says, low, palm on the dull pain of his stomach, before ordering Earl Grey and a black coffee and Bond hmms, puts his weight against the glass display counter, points to a pastry.
   
   “At least you can take a punch,” Bond replies.
   
   
   
7. Prowl by professorfangirl (lizeckhart). This one turned me to jelly. Shamelessly.
   
   
   “I hope you’re not here for a new weapon,” Q said. “I find myself unwilling to give you one. I was rather fond of that Walther.”
   
   Bond finally spoke. “So was I. Though we didn’t know each other long.” He reached over and plucked a stripped motherboard from a tray at Q’s elbow. “Perhaps I’m just here for entertainment.”
   
   “I’m afraid I don’t feel like entertaining.... 007, you truly are a remarkable specimen of presumption and ego. Not to mention a little drunk.”
   
   “And you, Q, are a cheeky pup.” Bond took him by the back of the neck and gave him a playful shake.
   
   
   
8. Slow Hands Killer by paxlux. Turns out I'm a real fan of paxlux's style: funny, smart, powerful, hot.
   
   
   There is nothing gentle about Bond once you’ve seen him at his weapon-best, cold eyes and hard hands and the sliding ability to become a shadow, a reflection, a trigger to be pulled (or not pulled). He sets explosions without blinking, Q listens to the steady breaths as he runs, pounding like his feet; he swallows his drink down without a shudder and heads into a fistfight turned knife fight turned gunfight like he’s placed his bets and he’s betting on himself to win.
   
   Then he returns to London, to Q branch and carefully puts the remains of the scanner on Q’s desk. He gingerly turns over his gun, palms soft. He looks like a disheveled, nonchalant schoolboy waiting for Q’s grade on his work.
   
   There’s nothing gentle about Q once you’ve seen him type one-handed, tea clutched in the other, and after a few keystrokes, a factory explodes, killing twelve drug thugs. He sighs and adjusts his glasses.
   
   
   
9. the sheer lack of professionalism by scioscribe. You may have noticed that I don't really go for comedy; but this is funny and smart in just the right ways. A story in which Q is kidnapped. I pity the kidnappers.
   
   
   Q felt charitable, so he directed all his texts to Eve and not to Bond.
   
   kidnapped
   
   correction: kidnapped by incompetents
   
   please activate chippy thing
   
   
   

Hopefully, I will have more recs in future. And if you have any recs to pass my way, or recommendation sites to point out to me, please do.