(no subject)
Title: Fighting Words
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Eliot, Sophie
Verse: Steal The Sky
Fandoms: Leverage, Firefly, Supernatural
Summary: After Leverage is destroyed the tension between Eliot and Sophie explodes as well.
Notes: Takes place post my universe's equivlent of the First David Job, immediately after The Things They Saved.
For the Fighting square on my H/c Bingo Card.
Apologies to my flist who might be experiencing slight spammage as I try to get the last of these stories posted before I disapear for the holidays.
He didn’t feel her presence until She tapped him on the shoulder.
In another time, another situation, Eliot would have told himself it was just because of the beating he’d just taken and how he’s focused on channeling and diverting strength and willpower to keeping the pain at bay and healing his body that he was barely aware of his surroundings, not caring if it made him vulnerable because doing otherwise would leave him unable to defend himself period.
And maybe that was true, but it didn’t change the surge of anger.
He turned sharply, towards Sophie, words bunching together and choking on the angry bile in his throat unable to even come out right then.
“You shouldn’t be alone right now.” Sophie said, slowly. She at least seemed aware that he blamed her. “I waited to see if anyone else would go after you first. I know you probably wish I’d walk into an engine right now but…” there’s a slight hitch, the tiniest of pauses and Eliot wanted to believe it was guilt that cased it but she was blocking his abilities as always and it was probably a Grifter’s trick. “Even before… you should have someone from the crew watching over you.”
He jerked his shoulder from her arm and his ribs protested, reminding him there was at least one broken from the fight with Sterling’s man and…
“You aint my crew.” He hissed, words finally escaping. “You don’t con your own crew.”
She flinched back, hand dropping, taking a step away. The island in a stream of moving people they’ve formed grows a little wider as those around them attempt to avoid the argument.
“I… I didn’t mean for this…” Sophie started, slipping into Greek to avoid passing ears.
He breathed through the fresh surge of rage at her language change. His clan had been trying to teach the crew over the past few months, but Sophie was the one who’d excelled at it. The language, sharing the language, had been a sign of trust more than the rest of the crew probably understood.
“I didn’t think… no one was supposed to get hurt. It wasn’t like what you think.”
“What I think?” Eliot said, pointedly not switching to Greek, only after that his mouth kept working to continue but his mind was slipping into that language.
“The job would have gotten Nate his revenge and the cash we needed to get Dean. It wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone an-“
“I don’t care about what you meant.” Eliot said. “Hell, I’m pissed that these injuries likely took a couple weeks off what little I already got left and instead of spending the next couple months getting’ you all ready an’ sayin’ goodbye I’m spending three weeks on the run but this aint even about that.”
He could see guilt write itself across Sophie’s face and he could almost believe it was true.
“El-“
“No. My turn.” He let out a steadying breath, pressing a hand to his ribs against the renewing pain. “You’ve blocked me from day one. Now you’re a grifter, it’s second nature, I understood. And you got the three of us out when you didn’t have to. I’ve never trusted a person I couldn’t read before but I trusted you.” His voice faltered and without meaning to he switched to Greek. “I… It made me feel better, knowing you’d be lookin’ out for Parker and Hardison after I was gone.”
Her hand raised to her lips. He should know what that gesture meant, if he took a moment he’d be able to remember the feeling he got from other people when they gave that gesture and guess what it meant but the deafening silence from her and his own mudded mind…
“It’s my job to protect our crew.” He kept his eyes stable. “My gifts let me see threats coming and defend against them but our home just got destroyed on my watch because I trusted you.” His hands balled into fists. “My clan just lost our home and I’m not even sure I’ll live long enough to meet you all in three weeks not to mention fix this and it’s all your fault.”
For a moment they just stared at each other. They’d gotten along well in the context of the crew but when it was just the two of them…
They’d been pushing and poking at each other since that first night when she’d asked him if he’d take freedom if offered before he even imagined she was trying to determine if she should leave him to his caged life.
And in the end it came down to this, right here, the deafening silence in the air between them, the different worlds they came from, both too old and set in their ways to cross the divide.
The moment might have lasted for hours if the growing white hot pain in his ribs hadn’t made Eliot wince.
Sophie stepped forward. “You should sit down, have someone look at those.”
“I suppose someone meaning you?”
Sophie hesitated but offered a tiny smile. “I’m not a doctor but I’ve some medical training.” She reached forward and took his hand.
Sophie had touched him dozens, maybe hundreds, of times in the past year but she only ever touched areas covered by cloth or when her hands were gloved. At times Eliot was greatful, skin to skin contact made the noise of the attached mind almost painfully loud, but he also knew it was because she knew she wouldn’t be able to block him with that kind of contact.
He was shocked at the touch, surprise deepening as he realized she was making no attempts to block him before the wave of thoughts and emotions hit him almost like a physical shove.
Guilt, anguish, regret… her’s but so visceral his own gut twisted at the feelings. The sense of loss of control and desperation to just fix what had been broken and terror that it couldn’t be undone adding to an undertow of helplessness that had been pulling for days and weeks and Eliot knew had everything to do with him.
He felt a hand on his real shoulder, steadying him, the solid grounding force of it pulling him back to the surface to breathe before the current pulled him under again.
Flashes. He got flashes and images. A dark haired little girl answering to a different name, a woman with a cat like smile Eliot distantly recognized from Olympus’ halls, a blonde haired woman, he was looking for something.
Always looking for something.
The Black as seen from Leverage’s bridge, a sense of peace.
He turned to see the little dark haired girl standing there. He called her by her name but it wasn’t Sophie.
“Sorry.” The girl said simply before the ship exploded around them.
Eliot stumbled back, gasping for breath, opening his eyes to see Sophie, her hand gone from his. She was still blocking him but he looked her in her eyes and understood.
They were in public. She couldn’t open herself to him without opening to everyone. But if he wanted to Read her all he’d ever have to do was take her hand.
He opened his mouth but only breath came out. He was too weak physically for a Read like he’d just done. He was going to Drop.
She came forward and put and arm around his shoulders. “Let me get you somewhere quiet and look after you then I’ll get us a couple of tickets.”
The world was slipping away. He’d be under for a while.
His hand found her arm, fingers brushing over it, throwing the sense of consent, her own gratitude and relief warming his mind before he let himself drop into the Black.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Eliot, Sophie
Verse: Steal The Sky
Fandoms: Leverage, Firefly, Supernatural
Summary: After Leverage is destroyed the tension between Eliot and Sophie explodes as well.
Notes: Takes place post my universe's equivlent of the First David Job, immediately after The Things They Saved.
For the Fighting square on my H/c Bingo Card.
Apologies to my flist who might be experiencing slight spammage as I try to get the last of these stories posted before I disapear for the holidays.
He didn’t feel her presence until She tapped him on the shoulder.
In another time, another situation, Eliot would have told himself it was just because of the beating he’d just taken and how he’s focused on channeling and diverting strength and willpower to keeping the pain at bay and healing his body that he was barely aware of his surroundings, not caring if it made him vulnerable because doing otherwise would leave him unable to defend himself period.
And maybe that was true, but it didn’t change the surge of anger.
He turned sharply, towards Sophie, words bunching together and choking on the angry bile in his throat unable to even come out right then.
“You shouldn’t be alone right now.” Sophie said, slowly. She at least seemed aware that he blamed her. “I waited to see if anyone else would go after you first. I know you probably wish I’d walk into an engine right now but…” there’s a slight hitch, the tiniest of pauses and Eliot wanted to believe it was guilt that cased it but she was blocking his abilities as always and it was probably a Grifter’s trick. “Even before… you should have someone from the crew watching over you.”
He jerked his shoulder from her arm and his ribs protested, reminding him there was at least one broken from the fight with Sterling’s man and…
“You aint my crew.” He hissed, words finally escaping. “You don’t con your own crew.”
She flinched back, hand dropping, taking a step away. The island in a stream of moving people they’ve formed grows a little wider as those around them attempt to avoid the argument.
“I… I didn’t mean for this…” Sophie started, slipping into Greek to avoid passing ears.
He breathed through the fresh surge of rage at her language change. His clan had been trying to teach the crew over the past few months, but Sophie was the one who’d excelled at it. The language, sharing the language, had been a sign of trust more than the rest of the crew probably understood.
“I didn’t think… no one was supposed to get hurt. It wasn’t like what you think.”
“What I think?” Eliot said, pointedly not switching to Greek, only after that his mouth kept working to continue but his mind was slipping into that language.
“The job would have gotten Nate his revenge and the cash we needed to get Dean. It wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone an-“
“I don’t care about what you meant.” Eliot said. “Hell, I’m pissed that these injuries likely took a couple weeks off what little I already got left and instead of spending the next couple months getting’ you all ready an’ sayin’ goodbye I’m spending three weeks on the run but this aint even about that.”
He could see guilt write itself across Sophie’s face and he could almost believe it was true.
“El-“
“No. My turn.” He let out a steadying breath, pressing a hand to his ribs against the renewing pain. “You’ve blocked me from day one. Now you’re a grifter, it’s second nature, I understood. And you got the three of us out when you didn’t have to. I’ve never trusted a person I couldn’t read before but I trusted you.” His voice faltered and without meaning to he switched to Greek. “I… It made me feel better, knowing you’d be lookin’ out for Parker and Hardison after I was gone.”
Her hand raised to her lips. He should know what that gesture meant, if he took a moment he’d be able to remember the feeling he got from other people when they gave that gesture and guess what it meant but the deafening silence from her and his own mudded mind…
“It’s my job to protect our crew.” He kept his eyes stable. “My gifts let me see threats coming and defend against them but our home just got destroyed on my watch because I trusted you.” His hands balled into fists. “My clan just lost our home and I’m not even sure I’ll live long enough to meet you all in three weeks not to mention fix this and it’s all your fault.”
For a moment they just stared at each other. They’d gotten along well in the context of the crew but when it was just the two of them…
They’d been pushing and poking at each other since that first night when she’d asked him if he’d take freedom if offered before he even imagined she was trying to determine if she should leave him to his caged life.
And in the end it came down to this, right here, the deafening silence in the air between them, the different worlds they came from, both too old and set in their ways to cross the divide.
The moment might have lasted for hours if the growing white hot pain in his ribs hadn’t made Eliot wince.
Sophie stepped forward. “You should sit down, have someone look at those.”
“I suppose someone meaning you?”
Sophie hesitated but offered a tiny smile. “I’m not a doctor but I’ve some medical training.” She reached forward and took his hand.
Sophie had touched him dozens, maybe hundreds, of times in the past year but she only ever touched areas covered by cloth or when her hands were gloved. At times Eliot was greatful, skin to skin contact made the noise of the attached mind almost painfully loud, but he also knew it was because she knew she wouldn’t be able to block him with that kind of contact.
He was shocked at the touch, surprise deepening as he realized she was making no attempts to block him before the wave of thoughts and emotions hit him almost like a physical shove.
Guilt, anguish, regret… her’s but so visceral his own gut twisted at the feelings. The sense of loss of control and desperation to just fix what had been broken and terror that it couldn’t be undone adding to an undertow of helplessness that had been pulling for days and weeks and Eliot knew had everything to do with him.
He felt a hand on his real shoulder, steadying him, the solid grounding force of it pulling him back to the surface to breathe before the current pulled him under again.
Flashes. He got flashes and images. A dark haired little girl answering to a different name, a woman with a cat like smile Eliot distantly recognized from Olympus’ halls, a blonde haired woman, he was looking for something.
Always looking for something.
The Black as seen from Leverage’s bridge, a sense of peace.
He turned to see the little dark haired girl standing there. He called her by her name but it wasn’t Sophie.
“Sorry.” The girl said simply before the ship exploded around them.
Eliot stumbled back, gasping for breath, opening his eyes to see Sophie, her hand gone from his. She was still blocking him but he looked her in her eyes and understood.
They were in public. She couldn’t open herself to him without opening to everyone. But if he wanted to Read her all he’d ever have to do was take her hand.
He opened his mouth but only breath came out. He was too weak physically for a Read like he’d just done. He was going to Drop.
She came forward and put and arm around his shoulders. “Let me get you somewhere quiet and look after you then I’ll get us a couple of tickets.”
The world was slipping away. He’d be under for a while.
His hand found her arm, fingers brushing over it, throwing the sense of consent, her own gratitude and relief warming his mind before he let himself drop into the Black.