#sorry to link to the torygraph but needs must you know

[thestalwartheart]

considering ben's irl russian-spy-infiltrating-germany-then-switching-to-mi6 grandad, i have always headcanoned q as being the child of a soviet asset who was turned by mi6. that's why he's so young (by mi6 standards) - because he's been on their radar since he was little. maybe he started out hacking into the kremlin and fucking with them out of petty teenage spite as revenge for them threatening his family or something? idk. but either way, m felt it was better to have him in the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. he's been there so long he's part of the furniture now, even though to outsiders he's way too young and impulsive to be a branch head. (he still fucks with the kremlin's firewalls during downtime, but what mallory doesn't know can't hurt him)

It's Meta Monday!

Ahh, there's a link I've never made before! Gosh, I'd love to read a fic involving that storyline.

Also, thank you for giving me a chuckle with "what Mallory doesn't know can't hurt him." In my head, he's not hurt by an awful lot of things!

For anyone curious. here's the story of Ben Whishaw's grandfather, born Jean Stellmacher, later known as John Whishaw.