Unfinished Business, Part 4/4, Leverage, PG-13
Fandom: Leverage
Title: Unfinished Business, Part 4 (first part is here, second part here, third part here, because apparently this forgot it was a one shot)
Characters/Pairings: Nate, Eliot, Parker, Sophie, Hardison (sort of Nate/Eliot pre-slash), OFC
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1972
Summary: Eliot comes back, intent on ending whatever is/isn't going on between him and Nate, only to find Nate a changed man, and a determined one as well.
A/Ns & Warnings: This is still pre/slash, and difficult boys being...well...difficult boys. Still a pretty beat up Eliot with emotional issues to boot.
Eliot stood outside Nate's door with a few more bruises and a lot more hesitation than the last time he'd stood there. It had been weeks since that last phone conversation.
The job in Reno had been over and done, and Eliot hadn't been ready to come back to end it, whether that meant the whole team thing or the strained, never quite made it out of the gate relationship thing he had with Nate.
He'd wandered a bit, ended up in Seattle with an old lover, and that only got messier than it had been when he left, leading to the black eye and dusky bruising along his jaw.
It was late. He should come back in the morning. He dropped his hand and turned to leave. He could get a room somewhere. Lay low. Figure out if this was really where he wanted to be just now.
He had a job waiting for him in Tokyo. No one even needed to know he'd been there. None of them had called. Not after the first week when he growled at them each time, then stopped answering them.
He headed down to the lobby and let himself out into the night. He'd given up his apartment when he left, knowing this was over. He turned and headed for the corner to catch a cab.
"Eliot?"
He stopped, turning slowly. "It is you. I thought maybe…" His voice trailed off and Eliot felt himself pale a little.
"Nate, I…um…" The EMT was with him, smiling at Eliot. He looked at the sidewalk, flushing with embarrassed heat. "I just got back and I…it's late."
"It's good to see you." Nate wrapped him up in a hug.
When he let go, Eliot consciously took a step away. "You look good." Nate seemed sober, cleaned up in a suit, shaved, happy.
"You look like you could use some ice." Nate's hand reached out, fingers brushing over his cheek.
"Nah…days old. It's fine." He pulled away as the EMT stepped up beside Nate again.
"You certainly do seem to end up beat up a lot."
"Goes with the job, ma'am." Eliot said, his voice a little cold. "It really is late, I should head…" He'd been going to say home, but he didn't really have one of those anymore.
"Why don't you come up." Nate inclined his head at the door and Eliot shook his head.
"I don't want to butt in. I'll come tomorrow."
Nate nodded. "Okay, if you like. Why don't you come by the office. The team would be happy to see you. They've been worried."
"Sure. Good. Tomorrow then." That settled that. Nate was with the girl, and things couldn't get weird and tense in front of everybody else. Eliot understood. It was time to finish this business once and for all.
He found some cheap hotel and didn't sleep. He paced, took a shower, stared at himself in the mirror. Why would he think someone like Nate would ever be interested in someone like him. They weren't even friends. Eliot wasn't sure how exactly he would define their relationship.
They didn't talk. They didn't touch. They'd never kissed, though there was that one time Eliot had held his breath and waited for Nate to close that last little distance. There was a lot of silence when they were together. Sometimes the television filled that silence, whatever game they could find.
Eliot traced over the scars on his chest with his eyes. The marks of a life lived on the edge, a lifetime of skirting death. He felt oddly old, cracked at the edges.
He took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom to get dressed. This is what came of hoping, of staying in one place too long and letting people get too close. If Eliot didn't end up getting them killed, he ended up cracking open and bleeding out all over them.
Nate deserved better. Hell, anyone did. Eliot knew that.
Parker tried to play it cool when she looked up and saw him standing there, a vague sort of smile on her lips as he leaned against the door. "Hey."
"Hey," he responded.
"You lost or something?"
"Or something." He chuckled and turned to look down the hall toward Hardison's office, getting the wind knocked out of him when she jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around his waist. He hugged her to him, slightly surprised when she didn't let go right away.
When she did, she jumped down, turning kind of away. "So does this mean you're back? Like really back?"
He shrugged a little. "Don't know."
She poked his shoulder. "It's not the same around here."
"Yeah?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hardison tries to big brother me. It's cute, but those shoes are too big for even his big feet."
"I heard that." Hardison leaned on the doorframe opposite Eliot. "Hey, man." He held out his hand, yanking Eliot into a sort of hug before letting him go. "My feet, I will have you know, are not big. They're proportional. They help hold up my brain."
"You mean your head." Parker countered.
Eliot knew where that was heading and shook his head. "What about Sophie?"
"She's out." Hardison said. "Something about a shoe sale?"
Parker crinkled her nose. "How many shoes does one woman need?"
"And Nate?"
"Now there's a big change." Parker fidgeted. "He's been…weird."
"I think the word you're looking for is sober." Hardison countered. "You ain't seen that kind of scary."
"I liked him better a little less sober." Parker said in an exaggerated whisper. "Not as scary."
"Scary?" Eliot asked, looking at Hardison.
"Brilliant. Creepy as hell. Sneaky. Quiet. Everything he was before but hyped up, like on Red Bull for the brain."
"Red Bull for the brain?" Hardison froze, then slapped Eliot across the shoulder.
"Dude, why didn't you tell me he was behind me?"
"Don't you have something to be doing?"
Parker scrambled away and Hardison turned to go, pausing. "Hey, you, me, beer and a pool table later, yeah?"
Eliot nodded and looked to Nate. He looked good. Smelled good too. He sipped on the mug in his hand, then tilted his head. "Coffee?"
"I'm good."
"Okay, come on down to my office."
They passed the close door of what had been Eliot's office and went into Nate's. Nate closed the door behind them. "I'm glad you came back."
"You asked, I promised I would." Eliot didn't move to sit down, he went to the window, leaning on the sill to look out at the city. "So, I'm here."
"Job get rough?" Nate asked, gesturing at his own eye.
Eliot turned, leaning on the window. "I bobbed when I should have ducked."
"You're okay though?"
"I guess. I mean, same old, right?" He exhaled and crossed his arms. "I meant what I said last night, you're looking really good."
Nate smiled and sat on the leather sofa. "Thank you. For the first time in a long time, I'm feeling pretty good."
"It shows. She's been good for you." There. As casual as he can manage it.
Nate raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, looking Eliot over. "You mean Ronnie?"
Eliot lifted one shoulder and nodded. "I always said you didn't need someone to take the bottle away from you, just someone who could give you a reason to put it down."
Nate nodded and sat back, inhaling deeply. "That is very wise, Eliot." He set his coffee on the table beside him.
Eliot frowned. "You seem surprised."
"Well, considering how thick headed you're being, maybe I am."
"Me?" Eliot stood up. "Thickheaded? Me?" He shook his head, frustration and anger flooding into him.
Nate on the contrary seemed amused. "Ronnie is a friend, Eliot."
Sure, rub his nose in it. "And we're not. I know. You've told me."
Nate shook his head, standing. "Not what I meant."
"Yeah, well…this was a bad idea." He headed for the door, but Nate cut him off.
"Stop."
"I don't want to hurt you Nate." Eliot said, his jaw tightening.
"Then just stop." Nate said. His hand was on Eliot's shoulder. Then it was on his neck. "Stop."
"Not actually moving." Eliot said, though he couldn't quite look at Nate.
"Good." Nate licked his lips. "I said she was my friend. She's actually my sponsor."
Eliot licked his lips in echo. "Your sponsor?"
Nate nodded. "AA. She…that's where we were coming from last night."
"Last night?"
Nate actually chuckled. "Are you just going to repeat everything I say like a question?"
Eliot blinked and looked up. "Okay. I'm confused."
"That much I'd gathered." Nate said. "Let me see if I can clear it up." He leaned in, his thumb caressing over the bruise on Eliot's jaw. His eyes flicked up to Eliot's then down at his lips. Eliot licked them again, just before Nate's lips touched them.
It was softer than he'd imagined, and laced with the taste of coffee heavy with cream. It was over almost before it fully registered, Nate pulling back, his hand sliding away.
Eliot held up a hand and shook his head to clear it a little. "You…I…" He rubbed a finger over his lips as Nate moved back to the couch. He lifted his coffee cup and sipped at it, watching Eliot.
"So you're not with what's her face?" Eliot asked.
"Ronnie, and no, I am not 'with' her." Nate responded.
"Okay. And that…just now…?"
"That was a kiss. It is generally a method of communicating interest and/or desire. Maybe I didn't do it right."
Nate stood, but Eliot held up both hands. "No, no…you did it fine."
Nate's face clouded and he looked worried. "Did I just…"
Eliot looked up at him and shook his head lightly. His confusion was starting to fuck this up. Eliot did the first thing that came to mind, closing the distance between them, both hands rising to Nate's face as Eliot kissed him.
Nate stepped back, blinking. "Okay, now I'm confused."
Eliot grinned and exhaled. "I believe that was called a kiss. People use it to communicate interest, desire…"
"Smart ass." Nate grabbed him and pulled him into an embrace. "I was beginning to think maybe I'd imagined it."
Eliot chuckled as Nate released him. "Me too." They both moved to sit on the couch.
"So…" Nate inhaled and Eliot nodded.
"Now what?"
"Pretty much." Nate's fingers played along the back of the couch. "I thought that was going to be the hard part." They sat in silence for a long moment before Nate reached for his hand, holding it between them. "I can't say this will be easy, or that I won't fuck up, or that it will work out in the end…I just know that I want to try. Being with you makes me want to try."
"Nate, I never wanted easy and I'm pretty damned fucked up myself."
Nate shook his head. "I can't…" He huffed and lifted his eyes to meet Eliot's. "I can't make promises, and I can't do this the way either of us are used to. I have to go slow."
Eliot fidgeted a little, shifting on the leather of the couch before nodding. "Okay."
"No I mean it." Nate said. "Rules of getting sober. I'm not supposed to start a…you know…sexual relationship…and then there's the whole part where I've never been with a guy….and I want this to be better than some fling, some relationship we fell into because we were both here and it was better than being alone…I don't want that."
Eliot pulled on Nate's hand to stop him. "Hey, I said okay."
"I know…I just…will you wait for me? Wait for me to be ready?"
Eliot felt the cracks breaking open as he nodded. "I ain't going anywhere, Nate. You and me? Unfinished business."
Title: Unfinished Business, Part 4 (first part is here, second part here, third part here, because apparently this forgot it was a one shot)
Characters/Pairings: Nate, Eliot, Parker, Sophie, Hardison (sort of Nate/Eliot pre-slash), OFC
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1972
Summary: Eliot comes back, intent on ending whatever is/isn't going on between him and Nate, only to find Nate a changed man, and a determined one as well.
A/Ns & Warnings: This is still pre/slash, and difficult boys being...well...difficult boys. Still a pretty beat up Eliot with emotional issues to boot.
Eliot stood outside Nate's door with a few more bruises and a lot more hesitation than the last time he'd stood there. It had been weeks since that last phone conversation.
The job in Reno had been over and done, and Eliot hadn't been ready to come back to end it, whether that meant the whole team thing or the strained, never quite made it out of the gate relationship thing he had with Nate.
He'd wandered a bit, ended up in Seattle with an old lover, and that only got messier than it had been when he left, leading to the black eye and dusky bruising along his jaw.
It was late. He should come back in the morning. He dropped his hand and turned to leave. He could get a room somewhere. Lay low. Figure out if this was really where he wanted to be just now.
He had a job waiting for him in Tokyo. No one even needed to know he'd been there. None of them had called. Not after the first week when he growled at them each time, then stopped answering them.
He headed down to the lobby and let himself out into the night. He'd given up his apartment when he left, knowing this was over. He turned and headed for the corner to catch a cab.
"Eliot?"
He stopped, turning slowly. "It is you. I thought maybe…" His voice trailed off and Eliot felt himself pale a little.
"Nate, I…um…" The EMT was with him, smiling at Eliot. He looked at the sidewalk, flushing with embarrassed heat. "I just got back and I…it's late."
"It's good to see you." Nate wrapped him up in a hug.
When he let go, Eliot consciously took a step away. "You look good." Nate seemed sober, cleaned up in a suit, shaved, happy.
"You look like you could use some ice." Nate's hand reached out, fingers brushing over his cheek.
"Nah…days old. It's fine." He pulled away as the EMT stepped up beside Nate again.
"You certainly do seem to end up beat up a lot."
"Goes with the job, ma'am." Eliot said, his voice a little cold. "It really is late, I should head…" He'd been going to say home, but he didn't really have one of those anymore.
"Why don't you come up." Nate inclined his head at the door and Eliot shook his head.
"I don't want to butt in. I'll come tomorrow."
Nate nodded. "Okay, if you like. Why don't you come by the office. The team would be happy to see you. They've been worried."
"Sure. Good. Tomorrow then." That settled that. Nate was with the girl, and things couldn't get weird and tense in front of everybody else. Eliot understood. It was time to finish this business once and for all.
He found some cheap hotel and didn't sleep. He paced, took a shower, stared at himself in the mirror. Why would he think someone like Nate would ever be interested in someone like him. They weren't even friends. Eliot wasn't sure how exactly he would define their relationship.
They didn't talk. They didn't touch. They'd never kissed, though there was that one time Eliot had held his breath and waited for Nate to close that last little distance. There was a lot of silence when they were together. Sometimes the television filled that silence, whatever game they could find.
Eliot traced over the scars on his chest with his eyes. The marks of a life lived on the edge, a lifetime of skirting death. He felt oddly old, cracked at the edges.
He took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom to get dressed. This is what came of hoping, of staying in one place too long and letting people get too close. If Eliot didn't end up getting them killed, he ended up cracking open and bleeding out all over them.
Nate deserved better. Hell, anyone did. Eliot knew that.
Parker tried to play it cool when she looked up and saw him standing there, a vague sort of smile on her lips as he leaned against the door. "Hey."
"Hey," he responded.
"You lost or something?"
"Or something." He chuckled and turned to look down the hall toward Hardison's office, getting the wind knocked out of him when she jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around his waist. He hugged her to him, slightly surprised when she didn't let go right away.
When she did, she jumped down, turning kind of away. "So does this mean you're back? Like really back?"
He shrugged a little. "Don't know."
She poked his shoulder. "It's not the same around here."
"Yeah?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hardison tries to big brother me. It's cute, but those shoes are too big for even his big feet."
"I heard that." Hardison leaned on the doorframe opposite Eliot. "Hey, man." He held out his hand, yanking Eliot into a sort of hug before letting him go. "My feet, I will have you know, are not big. They're proportional. They help hold up my brain."
"You mean your head." Parker countered.
Eliot knew where that was heading and shook his head. "What about Sophie?"
"She's out." Hardison said. "Something about a shoe sale?"
Parker crinkled her nose. "How many shoes does one woman need?"
"And Nate?"
"Now there's a big change." Parker fidgeted. "He's been…weird."
"I think the word you're looking for is sober." Hardison countered. "You ain't seen that kind of scary."
"I liked him better a little less sober." Parker said in an exaggerated whisper. "Not as scary."
"Scary?" Eliot asked, looking at Hardison.
"Brilliant. Creepy as hell. Sneaky. Quiet. Everything he was before but hyped up, like on Red Bull for the brain."
"Red Bull for the brain?" Hardison froze, then slapped Eliot across the shoulder.
"Dude, why didn't you tell me he was behind me?"
"Don't you have something to be doing?"
Parker scrambled away and Hardison turned to go, pausing. "Hey, you, me, beer and a pool table later, yeah?"
Eliot nodded and looked to Nate. He looked good. Smelled good too. He sipped on the mug in his hand, then tilted his head. "Coffee?"
"I'm good."
"Okay, come on down to my office."
They passed the close door of what had been Eliot's office and went into Nate's. Nate closed the door behind them. "I'm glad you came back."
"You asked, I promised I would." Eliot didn't move to sit down, he went to the window, leaning on the sill to look out at the city. "So, I'm here."
"Job get rough?" Nate asked, gesturing at his own eye.
Eliot turned, leaning on the window. "I bobbed when I should have ducked."
"You're okay though?"
"I guess. I mean, same old, right?" He exhaled and crossed his arms. "I meant what I said last night, you're looking really good."
Nate smiled and sat on the leather sofa. "Thank you. For the first time in a long time, I'm feeling pretty good."
"It shows. She's been good for you." There. As casual as he can manage it.
Nate raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, looking Eliot over. "You mean Ronnie?"
Eliot lifted one shoulder and nodded. "I always said you didn't need someone to take the bottle away from you, just someone who could give you a reason to put it down."
Nate nodded and sat back, inhaling deeply. "That is very wise, Eliot." He set his coffee on the table beside him.
Eliot frowned. "You seem surprised."
"Well, considering how thick headed you're being, maybe I am."
"Me?" Eliot stood up. "Thickheaded? Me?" He shook his head, frustration and anger flooding into him.
Nate on the contrary seemed amused. "Ronnie is a friend, Eliot."
Sure, rub his nose in it. "And we're not. I know. You've told me."
Nate shook his head, standing. "Not what I meant."
"Yeah, well…this was a bad idea." He headed for the door, but Nate cut him off.
"Stop."
"I don't want to hurt you Nate." Eliot said, his jaw tightening.
"Then just stop." Nate said. His hand was on Eliot's shoulder. Then it was on his neck. "Stop."
"Not actually moving." Eliot said, though he couldn't quite look at Nate.
"Good." Nate licked his lips. "I said she was my friend. She's actually my sponsor."
Eliot licked his lips in echo. "Your sponsor?"
Nate nodded. "AA. She…that's where we were coming from last night."
"Last night?"
Nate actually chuckled. "Are you just going to repeat everything I say like a question?"
Eliot blinked and looked up. "Okay. I'm confused."
"That much I'd gathered." Nate said. "Let me see if I can clear it up." He leaned in, his thumb caressing over the bruise on Eliot's jaw. His eyes flicked up to Eliot's then down at his lips. Eliot licked them again, just before Nate's lips touched them.
It was softer than he'd imagined, and laced with the taste of coffee heavy with cream. It was over almost before it fully registered, Nate pulling back, his hand sliding away.
Eliot held up a hand and shook his head to clear it a little. "You…I…" He rubbed a finger over his lips as Nate moved back to the couch. He lifted his coffee cup and sipped at it, watching Eliot.
"So you're not with what's her face?" Eliot asked.
"Ronnie, and no, I am not 'with' her." Nate responded.
"Okay. And that…just now…?"
"That was a kiss. It is generally a method of communicating interest and/or desire. Maybe I didn't do it right."
Nate stood, but Eliot held up both hands. "No, no…you did it fine."
Nate's face clouded and he looked worried. "Did I just…"
Eliot looked up at him and shook his head lightly. His confusion was starting to fuck this up. Eliot did the first thing that came to mind, closing the distance between them, both hands rising to Nate's face as Eliot kissed him.
Nate stepped back, blinking. "Okay, now I'm confused."
Eliot grinned and exhaled. "I believe that was called a kiss. People use it to communicate interest, desire…"
"Smart ass." Nate grabbed him and pulled him into an embrace. "I was beginning to think maybe I'd imagined it."
Eliot chuckled as Nate released him. "Me too." They both moved to sit on the couch.
"So…" Nate inhaled and Eliot nodded.
"Now what?"
"Pretty much." Nate's fingers played along the back of the couch. "I thought that was going to be the hard part." They sat in silence for a long moment before Nate reached for his hand, holding it between them. "I can't say this will be easy, or that I won't fuck up, or that it will work out in the end…I just know that I want to try. Being with you makes me want to try."
"Nate, I never wanted easy and I'm pretty damned fucked up myself."
Nate shook his head. "I can't…" He huffed and lifted his eyes to meet Eliot's. "I can't make promises, and I can't do this the way either of us are used to. I have to go slow."
Eliot fidgeted a little, shifting on the leather of the couch before nodding. "Okay."
"No I mean it." Nate said. "Rules of getting sober. I'm not supposed to start a…you know…sexual relationship…and then there's the whole part where I've never been with a guy….and I want this to be better than some fling, some relationship we fell into because we were both here and it was better than being alone…I don't want that."
Eliot pulled on Nate's hand to stop him. "Hey, I said okay."
"I know…I just…will you wait for me? Wait for me to be ready?"
Eliot felt the cracks breaking open as he nodded. "I ain't going anywhere, Nate. You and me? Unfinished business."