#refractions verse

[bootsnblossoms]

As requested, Rivinari's art that inspired The Colours in His Skin / Refraction Series. I'd link back to her, but her blog has gone missing :/

[bootsnblossoms]

Light.

He could see it, but it took him a long minute to process. He had been so lost that it took more than just the explosion of brightness to bring him back  —  he still felt the hands on him, the voices in his ears, the tug in his hair that wanted to drag him away. Drag him down.

Even indirect, the light was blinding and bright, but he couldn’t bring himself to cover his eyes. It was light.

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[bootsnblossoms]

“What are you doing!” Q finally snapped, yelling into the train car, heedless of the winces he knew he must have been soliciting from anyone unfortunate enough to be on the other end of the earwig. “How do you know they were threats? They were the only ones trying to get me out! What would it have taken? Ten minutes? Five? I could have been out of here!”

It wasn’t Bond who answered, but Tanner: “You know you’re too valuable to take that risk, Q. They would’ve taken you along with the tech.”

“I don’t care!” Q shouted, so far beyond a willingness to remain professional that it could have been Mallory on the other end of the comm and he wouldn’t have cared. It didn’t help that Tanner was Tanner, of course  —  the truce between them hadn’t faltered since its early establishment, but it had never evolved into anything resembling friendship. Tanner was a cold, ruthless bastard, and Q knew damn well he’d rather Q were shot than end up in enemy hands.

[bootsnblossoms]

God, he was sick of this. 

Trains. The Underground. Places he’d thought he’d never fear. Ever. The thought of it made him laugh a little, high-pitched and slightly hysterical though it may have been.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry. I’m fine,” he assured whoever was on the other side of the line. Danielle. James.

“Q?” Bond sounded strained and worried and scared. “Thank god. Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

“I was just thinking how stupid it is. Me. Trapped here. Afraid here.” Q looked around at the train car, a breathless laugh escaping him again. “Absurd, isn’t it?”

[bootsnblossoms]

James was talking but Q wasn't listening. He'd done what James had asked him to do only because logic told him that his lover was right. They needed the GPS chip in his phone to transmit his location. If Q ran out his battery, not only would there be no light, there would be no quick and efficient way for James to find him.

Of course, logic had very little to do with phobias.

[bootsnblossoms]

"There’s been an accident. We don’t know what’s happened. Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"It’s dark," Q whispered, daring to crack his eyes open again, only to be greeted with the same endless black. "Fuck, James. My head hurts, and it’s dark."