Fic: Surprise (Leverage/Teen Wolf)
Title: Surprise!
Fandoms: Leverage/Teen Wolf
Characters/Pairings: Eliot/Quinn, Isaac, Melissa McCall
Summary: Quinn drops by to surprise his little brother Isaac for Christmas, but Isaac isn’t where he’s supposed to be.
A/N: For seraphina_snape - I really hope you like this, thanks for being awesome and I wish you all the best for 2014!
“What do you mean you’re not going to be here for Christmas?” asked Parker, folding her arms determinedly. “It’s Christmas.”
Quinn leaned back against the counter which was currently covered in gift wrap and streamers, choosing to stay out of the conversation which was currently engaging everyone else in the room. Instead of talking he watched Eliot, who was running a hand through his hair in frustration, and winced on his behalf; Quinn definitely wouldn’t have liked to be in his position.
Eliot nodded. “I know it is, Parker, and I promise we’ll still do something together before I go. But Quinn and I are spending Christmas somewhere else this year.”
“Just the two of you?” Sophie turned to look speculatively at Quinn. “That’s interesting.”
Avoiding Sophie’s gaze, Quinn shrugged and stayed silent. He might have gotten to know Eliot’s team much better in recent months but they were still Eliot’s team, which meant his partner deserved to have control of this particular conversation.
“Just the two of us,” Eliot confirmed. “Mostly. Look, Quinn’s - we both - have things we need to do this year. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to spend Christmas with you guys, there’s just somewhere else we need to be.”
Nate cleared his throat. “And where is that, exactly? Should we be worried?”
Quinn snorted; he respected Nate, but the way the guy had been constantly watching for signs of Eliot going dark-side since Quinn had started dating him was really starting to grate. “No need to worry.” He smirked. “I’ll take good care of him.”
“I can take care of myself,” said Eliot, scowling, “and these guys should know that.”
“We do, man. But you’ve got to admit; not spending Christmas with us isn’t cool.” Hardison moved to stand next to Parker, frowning in a way that almost matched Eliot’s own expression. “I don’t like it.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think it’s quite romantic,” said Sophie.
Quinn caught sight of the way Eliot seemed to deflate ever so slightly and decided it was time to rescue him. “Actually, Eliot’s coming with me as a favour - I’m going to visit family, he’s coming for moral support.”
Strangely, the admission settled Eliot’s team more than Quinn had expected it would and they launched into plans for their pre-Christmas celebration when Eliot would be present. Quinn guessed it sort of made sense that they’d let it go more easily once they knew the truth; they understood the importance of family, after all. In fact, being around such a close group of people was partly what had prompted Quinn to reconnect with his little brother earlier in the year - and he was so glad he had. He hated to think about might have happened to his werewolf - and that was something Quinn was still processing - little brother if he and Eliot hadn’t turned up in time to help out with the hunters attacking Isaac.
“You good?” asked Eliot, nudging him out of his thoughts. “You look a little…distressed.”
Quinn glanced around the room, seeing that they were now alone. “Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about Isaac.”
“I’m sure he’s fine.” Eliot’s elbow was still pressed up against Quinn’s arm, warm and reassuring. “He’s said he’s doing okay every time you two have spoken on the phone, right?”
Quinn twisted his head to look directly at the other hitter. “Well, I guess we’ll see soon enough.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“He’s a teenager - they’re good at hiding secrets.”
“So are hitters. You know, telling them we weren’t going to be here for Christmas wasn’t as hard as I thought.”
Quinn laughed. “That was the easy part. Now we have werewolves to go play nice with.”
Shrugging, Eliot began to walk away. “Well, we’ve both played with worse.”
~~
Maybe it was because he knew what sort of creatures the town contained now, or maybe it was the feeling of going back into his past, but as they drove into town Beacon Hills seemed so different to Quinn than it had when he was younger. He used to be able to walk down the streets with his friends without looking over his shoulder. Now, even just passing by a group of people in the car made his senses prickle.
“We’re almost at the address you have for Isaac.” Eliot glanced over at him from the driver’s seat.
“Good. That’s good. We can surprise him, then.”
“Well, that was the plan.”
Quinn didn’t miss the sarcasm in Eliot’s voice but he chose not to comment; he knew Eliot was only teasing, trying to distract him from the nerves that had been building ever since they’d set off towards Beacon Hills.
“Derek seemed okay when we were last here, right?” said Eliot. “I’m sure Isaac will be fine.”
“Derek seemed okay,” repeated Quinn. “But, then, Derek Hale is the idiot who turned my little brother into a werewolf in the first place so I’m not exactly completely trusting of his sense of judgement. Hell, the only reason I let Isaac stay with him is because Derek’s knowledge of new werewolves trumps mine.”
“That’s fair.” Eliot managed to pull into a parking space right in front of the building they were visiting.
“I know it is.” Quinn took a good look at the building, and the neighbouring buildings, and the street they were on. “This doesn’t seem too bad. I mean, it’s not a house in the suburbs but I don’t think me of all people can complain too much about that.”
“Let’s take a look at the inside then.”
Quinn let out a long deep breath. “Okay.”
There was no answer when they tried to get into the loft.
“They’re probably just out,” said Quinn. “Getting groceries or seeing a movie or something. Right?”
Eliot nodded. “Probably. But it could be they’re going to be out a while - I know you wanted to surprise him but maybe-”
“Maybe I should call him. Yeah, okay, I’ll call him.”
Isaac picked up on the second ring - not at the movies, then.
“Cam- Quinn?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Look, I wanted this to be a surprise but an over-the-phone surprise is going to have to do. I’m in Beacon Hills.”
“You are?”
Quinn couldn’t tell for sure, but Isaac sounded pleased enough. “Yeah, but you are not at the loft.”
“Oh, right. Yeah.” There was a pause at the other end of the line for a moment and then Isaac cleared his throat. “I sort of don’t live there anymore.”
“Define ‘sort of’.”
“I don’t.”
Quinn sighed. “Isaac-”
“It’s kind of a long story. I’ll try to explain.” Isaac rattled off an address and hung up before Quinn could try and get any more information out of him.
Quinn glared at his cell phone for a moment before starting to walk back towards the car. “Change of plan - we’re going somewhere else instead.”
~~
“I wonder why Isaac didn’t tell you he’d moved.” Eliot locked his car and walked around to the other side to join Quinn. “You sure this is the place?”
They were standing outside a normal suburban house, much like the type Quinn had compared the apartment building to earlier, on a normal-looking street. In fact, everything was almost too normal; not like the type of place where two werewolves should be living.
Quinn shrugged and started walking towards the front door. “It’s the address he gave me -I guess we’ll see.”
The door opened before either of them had even knocked. Isaac stood in the doorway, hair slightly tousled and his head ducked ever so slightly in the way it did when he was nervous. Quinn still couldn’t get over how tall his kid brother was now; when he’d left to join the army, Isaac had still been his little brother; now, Quinn felt a bit ridiculous thinking of him as that.
“Hey, Isaac.” Eliot filled in the silence. “How are you?”
“Good. I’m good, thanks. You?”
“Fine - long drive.”
Isaac nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t realize you guys were visiting.”
Quinn grinned. “That’s mostly the point of a surprise visit. Can we come in?”
Inside, the house was lived-in but clean and tidy. As Isaac led them through into the kitchen Quinn noticed that there were a lot of photos dotted around. The kitchen itself was homey, too - more so than Quinn had expected from Derek Hale. “Is this where you live now? You and Derek?”
“Yeah,” said Isaac. “Well, I do. Derek doesn’t - he’s away. This is Scott’s place. Well, Scott’s mom’s place. I sleep in the guest room.”
“No, Isaac. You sleep in your room.” A woman dressed in a nurse’s uniform walked into the kitchen, tying her hair back as she walked. “One of you must be Isaac’s brother?”
Quinn stepped forward, holding out a hand. “That’d be me, ma’am. Quinn.”
“I’m Melissa. I can’t really stay and talk - I have a shift - but you should come for dinner tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose on Christmas Eve.”
Melissa shook her head. “You’re Isaac’s family, you wouldn’t be. Besides, can you cook?”
“Only passably. Eliot can, though.” Quinn nodded his head towards his partner.
“Great, then you’d be helping me out by coming around. My culinary skills are pretty basic.”
Quinn knew Eliot wasn’t going to complain at the chance to cook food for people on Christmas Eve, and he already liked Melissa. “Then in that case dinner sounds wonderful. Thank you.”
“Great, see you then.” Melissa started heading for the doorway and then turned back to look at Isaac. “I’m working late tonight and Scott’s staying over at Stiles’ place so just get yourself whatever you want to eat - you know you can help yourself?”
Isaac nodded.
“Great. Bye then, honey.”
Quinn watched as Melissa left and then moved his attention to Isaac. “She seems nice.”
“She is - Melissa’s been great about everything.”
“So she knows about the whole werewolf thing?” asked Eliot, taking a few steps to stand beside Quinn.
“She knows. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I’d moved - things were a little bad for a while but I promise things are good now.”
Quinn shrugged. “Look, I want the whole story at some point but right now? It looks like you’re living with good people in a good place - that’s the most important thing.”
“And you’re going to spend Christmas with us,” said Isaac. “So, you know, I think this is going to be the best Christmas in a while.”
Quinn nodded. This was going to be the first Christmas he’d spent with his brother in years; he was going to make sure it was the best.
Fandoms: Leverage/Teen Wolf
Characters/Pairings: Eliot/Quinn, Isaac, Melissa McCall
Summary: Quinn drops by to surprise his little brother Isaac for Christmas, but Isaac isn’t where he’s supposed to be.
A/N: For seraphina_snape - I really hope you like this, thanks for being awesome and I wish you all the best for 2014!
“What do you mean you’re not going to be here for Christmas?” asked Parker, folding her arms determinedly. “It’s Christmas.”
Quinn leaned back against the counter which was currently covered in gift wrap and streamers, choosing to stay out of the conversation which was currently engaging everyone else in the room. Instead of talking he watched Eliot, who was running a hand through his hair in frustration, and winced on his behalf; Quinn definitely wouldn’t have liked to be in his position.
Eliot nodded. “I know it is, Parker, and I promise we’ll still do something together before I go. But Quinn and I are spending Christmas somewhere else this year.”
“Just the two of you?” Sophie turned to look speculatively at Quinn. “That’s interesting.”
Avoiding Sophie’s gaze, Quinn shrugged and stayed silent. He might have gotten to know Eliot’s team much better in recent months but they were still Eliot’s team, which meant his partner deserved to have control of this particular conversation.
“Just the two of us,” Eliot confirmed. “Mostly. Look, Quinn’s - we both - have things we need to do this year. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to spend Christmas with you guys, there’s just somewhere else we need to be.”
Nate cleared his throat. “And where is that, exactly? Should we be worried?”
Quinn snorted; he respected Nate, but the way the guy had been constantly watching for signs of Eliot going dark-side since Quinn had started dating him was really starting to grate. “No need to worry.” He smirked. “I’ll take good care of him.”
“I can take care of myself,” said Eliot, scowling, “and these guys should know that.”
“We do, man. But you’ve got to admit; not spending Christmas with us isn’t cool.” Hardison moved to stand next to Parker, frowning in a way that almost matched Eliot’s own expression. “I don’t like it.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think it’s quite romantic,” said Sophie.
Quinn caught sight of the way Eliot seemed to deflate ever so slightly and decided it was time to rescue him. “Actually, Eliot’s coming with me as a favour - I’m going to visit family, he’s coming for moral support.”
Strangely, the admission settled Eliot’s team more than Quinn had expected it would and they launched into plans for their pre-Christmas celebration when Eliot would be present. Quinn guessed it sort of made sense that they’d let it go more easily once they knew the truth; they understood the importance of family, after all. In fact, being around such a close group of people was partly what had prompted Quinn to reconnect with his little brother earlier in the year - and he was so glad he had. He hated to think about might have happened to his werewolf - and that was something Quinn was still processing - little brother if he and Eliot hadn’t turned up in time to help out with the hunters attacking Isaac.
“You good?” asked Eliot, nudging him out of his thoughts. “You look a little…distressed.”
Quinn glanced around the room, seeing that they were now alone. “Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about Isaac.”
“I’m sure he’s fine.” Eliot’s elbow was still pressed up against Quinn’s arm, warm and reassuring. “He’s said he’s doing okay every time you two have spoken on the phone, right?”
Quinn twisted his head to look directly at the other hitter. “Well, I guess we’ll see soon enough.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“He’s a teenager - they’re good at hiding secrets.”
“So are hitters. You know, telling them we weren’t going to be here for Christmas wasn’t as hard as I thought.”
Quinn laughed. “That was the easy part. Now we have werewolves to go play nice with.”
Shrugging, Eliot began to walk away. “Well, we’ve both played with worse.”
~~
Maybe it was because he knew what sort of creatures the town contained now, or maybe it was the feeling of going back into his past, but as they drove into town Beacon Hills seemed so different to Quinn than it had when he was younger. He used to be able to walk down the streets with his friends without looking over his shoulder. Now, even just passing by a group of people in the car made his senses prickle.
“We’re almost at the address you have for Isaac.” Eliot glanced over at him from the driver’s seat.
“Good. That’s good. We can surprise him, then.”
“Well, that was the plan.”
Quinn didn’t miss the sarcasm in Eliot’s voice but he chose not to comment; he knew Eliot was only teasing, trying to distract him from the nerves that had been building ever since they’d set off towards Beacon Hills.
“Derek seemed okay when we were last here, right?” said Eliot. “I’m sure Isaac will be fine.”
“Derek seemed okay,” repeated Quinn. “But, then, Derek Hale is the idiot who turned my little brother into a werewolf in the first place so I’m not exactly completely trusting of his sense of judgement. Hell, the only reason I let Isaac stay with him is because Derek’s knowledge of new werewolves trumps mine.”
“That’s fair.” Eliot managed to pull into a parking space right in front of the building they were visiting.
“I know it is.” Quinn took a good look at the building, and the neighbouring buildings, and the street they were on. “This doesn’t seem too bad. I mean, it’s not a house in the suburbs but I don’t think me of all people can complain too much about that.”
“Let’s take a look at the inside then.”
Quinn let out a long deep breath. “Okay.”
There was no answer when they tried to get into the loft.
“They’re probably just out,” said Quinn. “Getting groceries or seeing a movie or something. Right?”
Eliot nodded. “Probably. But it could be they’re going to be out a while - I know you wanted to surprise him but maybe-”
“Maybe I should call him. Yeah, okay, I’ll call him.”
Isaac picked up on the second ring - not at the movies, then.
“Cam- Quinn?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Look, I wanted this to be a surprise but an over-the-phone surprise is going to have to do. I’m in Beacon Hills.”
“You are?”
Quinn couldn’t tell for sure, but Isaac sounded pleased enough. “Yeah, but you are not at the loft.”
“Oh, right. Yeah.” There was a pause at the other end of the line for a moment and then Isaac cleared his throat. “I sort of don’t live there anymore.”
“Define ‘sort of’.”
“I don’t.”
Quinn sighed. “Isaac-”
“It’s kind of a long story. I’ll try to explain.” Isaac rattled off an address and hung up before Quinn could try and get any more information out of him.
Quinn glared at his cell phone for a moment before starting to walk back towards the car. “Change of plan - we’re going somewhere else instead.”
~~
“I wonder why Isaac didn’t tell you he’d moved.” Eliot locked his car and walked around to the other side to join Quinn. “You sure this is the place?”
They were standing outside a normal suburban house, much like the type Quinn had compared the apartment building to earlier, on a normal-looking street. In fact, everything was almost too normal; not like the type of place where two werewolves should be living.
Quinn shrugged and started walking towards the front door. “It’s the address he gave me -I guess we’ll see.”
The door opened before either of them had even knocked. Isaac stood in the doorway, hair slightly tousled and his head ducked ever so slightly in the way it did when he was nervous. Quinn still couldn’t get over how tall his kid brother was now; when he’d left to join the army, Isaac had still been his little brother; now, Quinn felt a bit ridiculous thinking of him as that.
“Hey, Isaac.” Eliot filled in the silence. “How are you?”
“Good. I’m good, thanks. You?”
“Fine - long drive.”
Isaac nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t realize you guys were visiting.”
Quinn grinned. “That’s mostly the point of a surprise visit. Can we come in?”
Inside, the house was lived-in but clean and tidy. As Isaac led them through into the kitchen Quinn noticed that there were a lot of photos dotted around. The kitchen itself was homey, too - more so than Quinn had expected from Derek Hale. “Is this where you live now? You and Derek?”
“Yeah,” said Isaac. “Well, I do. Derek doesn’t - he’s away. This is Scott’s place. Well, Scott’s mom’s place. I sleep in the guest room.”
“No, Isaac. You sleep in your room.” A woman dressed in a nurse’s uniform walked into the kitchen, tying her hair back as she walked. “One of you must be Isaac’s brother?”
Quinn stepped forward, holding out a hand. “That’d be me, ma’am. Quinn.”
“I’m Melissa. I can’t really stay and talk - I have a shift - but you should come for dinner tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose on Christmas Eve.”
Melissa shook her head. “You’re Isaac’s family, you wouldn’t be. Besides, can you cook?”
“Only passably. Eliot can, though.” Quinn nodded his head towards his partner.
“Great, then you’d be helping me out by coming around. My culinary skills are pretty basic.”
Quinn knew Eliot wasn’t going to complain at the chance to cook food for people on Christmas Eve, and he already liked Melissa. “Then in that case dinner sounds wonderful. Thank you.”
“Great, see you then.” Melissa started heading for the doorway and then turned back to look at Isaac. “I’m working late tonight and Scott’s staying over at Stiles’ place so just get yourself whatever you want to eat - you know you can help yourself?”
Isaac nodded.
“Great. Bye then, honey.”
Quinn watched as Melissa left and then moved his attention to Isaac. “She seems nice.”
“She is - Melissa’s been great about everything.”
“So she knows about the whole werewolf thing?” asked Eliot, taking a few steps to stand beside Quinn.
“She knows. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I’d moved - things were a little bad for a while but I promise things are good now.”
Quinn shrugged. “Look, I want the whole story at some point but right now? It looks like you’re living with good people in a good place - that’s the most important thing.”
“And you’re going to spend Christmas with us,” said Isaac. “So, you know, I think this is going to be the best Christmas in a while.”
Quinn nodded. This was going to be the first Christmas he’d spent with his brother in years; he was going to make sure it was the best.