Fic: Planting Roots, Crossover Leverage/A:tS, PG-13
Title: Planting Roots
Author: elebridith
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Slash, Crossover
Pairing/Characters: Lindsey/Eliot, rest of the Leverage team. Nate/Sophie is a given, and Parker and Alec have something going on in their own lovable way.
Summary: More decisions, and schmoop. Lindsey sings.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no one, nothing of it. Just playing.
Beta'd by
havenward . *adores*
A/N: Set in my Face Value!Verse, directly after "Bumps in the road". Better to read that one before this, or a lot of details will get lost on you. Face Value Masterpost including timeline is here.
The songs are "Personal Jesus", originally by Depeche Mode, and "In my life", originally by The Beatles. And yes, Johnny Cash did cover both of them. On "The man comes around". Thanks to
havenward for pointing me to those!
Links to the Johnny Cash songs (be careful, they start to play once you click)
Personal Jesus
In My Life
And thanks to my own personal bunny feeder,
honeyjojames ! *hugs*
This is schmoop. Yes. The boys need it, because there's drama coming up. Yes, I'm a tease. *g*
The wrap up went smoothly. Later in the day they all were back in Nate's living room. Finally, after covering a few more details, Nate nodded with a satisfied grin. "All right people, good work. And here's the good news."
He paused and everyone looked expectantly at him. Parker beamed. "Do we get more money?"
Nathan laughed. "I think you'll find our share... agreeable. But I wanted to say that for tomorrow there are no assignments. So - enjoy your day off."
An appreciative murmur was heard all around. Lindsey stood up and started to head over to Eliot, but got distracted by Sophie who had put a hand on his arm and asked him gently how the "pep talk" had gone. Eliot watched them fondly, but then an idea suddenly occurred to him. He pondered the thought for a bit and then looked up. "Nate? A minute?"
Nate looked puzzled as Eliot stepped towards him and asked in a low voice "Nate, where did you stash that... thing I gave you?"
Nate looked confused for a moment, but then grinned. "Ah. You think now's a good time, huh? Yeah. Good idea. I'll get it." He slipped out of the room.
Lindsey was now cheerfully chatting with Sophie and didn't notice Nate's absence or the way Eliot's expression began to take on a slightly nervous look. He looked up as Eliot came over to him and touched him on the shoulder. Sophie stopped talking and gave Eliot a questioning smile. Eliot smiled back hesitantly. "Uh... Sophie, sorry to interrupt, but..."
Sophie patted his hand. "It's okay, Eliot. I'll talk to your boy later." She grinned and went to the table to get herself a drink.
Lindsey looked curious, even more once he noticed the awkward expression on Eliot's face. "Eliot? What is it?"
Eliot tried to smile, but didn't manage to make it look natural. "I... uhh... I have something for you."
Lindsey stared at him. He opened and closed his mouth twice before getting out words. "You... for me?"
Eliot actually fidgeted with his fingers now, picking at the bandage that was now wrapped around his hand. "Yeah. It's... it was meant... um, I bought it for your birthday, originally, but, um..." He cleared his throat. "Well, I had the idea, some, some time ago already, well I thought you... might need something to, well, to keep you a little... rooted here, so..."
Eliot's voice trailed off and Lindsey would swear later that he had blushed a little. He searched for words, idly noticing that both Parker and Hardison had stopped grabbing their jackets and were now listening with very thinly veiled interest. Nathan came back with a big box, which he carefully sat down before stepping back next to Sophie. Lindsey blinked slowly. "You... got me something for my birthday?" He still looked as if he couldn't believe it.
Eliot looked defensive. "Yeah. That's... what you do for birthdays, right? You make presents. Or so I was told."
Lindsey let out a small nervous laugh. "I guess, yeah. It's just... I haven't gotten something since... oh, I don't know. College?"
Eliot smirked, slowly getting used to the situation and relaxing a bit. "Well then. About time, right? Come on, open it."
Lindsey still looked amazed, but picked up the package nevertheless. He frowned. "Oh. Light for the size." He pried the box open and looked inside. "Oh God." His breath got stuck, a lump formed in his throat and he couldn't say a word. He carefully lifted a guitar out of the box, ripped the remaining wrapping away and then ran his hand lovingly over smooth polished wood and steel strings.
Eliot looked nervous again. "Do you... do you like it? I hope it's a good one, I bought it last week. I did some research, and the sale guy there said it's good quality, so I hope..." His rambling broke off as Lindsey lifted his stunned gaze away from the guitar and looked at him, eyes shining and a big radiant smile on his face.
Lindsey had said more than once how much he loved music and missed playing, but he had always refused to actually go out and buy a guitar. Eliot understood the reason for that perfectly now. If he was waiting for everything to fall apart - he didn't want to get more strings attached. Didn't want to have more happy memories to have to forget. Eliot felt himself start to grin as he realized that he might have just did the exact right thing at the right time. It felt good. He loves it. He missed his music, and now... yes. He loves it. They just stood, eyes fixed on each other, for the moment completely unaware of the four other people in the room who had watched, fascinated and a little touched.
"Oh man, stop eye-fucking each other, that's disturbing! Lindsey, plenty of time for that later, come on, play something!"
That broke the moment. Lindsey blushed and laughed a little, embarrassed, and Eliot blinked repeatedly as if he was waking up from a trance. He glared at Hardison and then buried his face in his hands, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "geek power my ass". Parker and Sophie simultaneously started to giggle and Nathan stared at Hardison, horrified.
"Hardison? And you call me cruel?"
Alec shrugged, trying to put up an innocent face. "Hey, boss, just trying to save your living room here. It was about to ignite. Now, how's about it? Music?"
Lindsey grinned and nodded. "One moment, though. I'll make it short for the sake of your eyes, but my momma taught me always to say thank you for presents..." Guitar still in hand, he closed the distance between him and Eliot, slid one hand around his neck, pulled him close and kissed him almost reverently. "Thank you."
It was only a whisper, but Eliot heard it. "You're welcome." His voice was hoarse, and really, that was only because he had just been kissed in public, and had absolutely nothing to do with feelings like... okay, it had, but he certainly would knock everyone out who would say so.
Lindsey sat down and expertly tuned the guitar by ear, not realizing that he was softly petting the wood of the body every time he'd finished a string. Parker did notice, though, and giggled when it happened the third time. "Lindsey, Eliot and a guitar. It would be one hell of a threesome! Lindsey, if you keep doing this, Eliot's gonna be jealous!"
Lindsey looked up, confused. "Do what... oh." He caught himself fast, winked at her and turned his head to Eliot, dead serious expression on his face. "Get used to it, darlin'. You brought her into this."
Eliot managed to keep a straight face and nodded curtly. Alec stared at the far too gleeful way Parker was grinning, then groaned and buried his face in his hands.
Lindsey just raised his eyebrows and grinned smugly. "Okay, if you really wanna hear something... I bet you didn't know that Johnny Cash covered this one." He concentrated a moment and then started playing an intro that sounded eerily familiar.
As he began to sing, Alec looked up again. His and Sophie's eyes widened almost comically, Nathan's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and Parker's jaw dropped. Eliot just allowed himself a small curl of his lips. Of course they had all heard him sing before - occasionally singing along to a song on the radio, humming to himself with fragments of lyrics when he was busy fixing something - but never like this, never singing for the sake of it, never actually using that deep rich voice to full effect.
Now he did. Eyes half-closed, playing the chords with an ease that gave away how familiar he was with the song, voice full of emotion that came from his soul.
"Your own, personal, Jesus
someone to hear your prayers,
someone who's there
Feeling unknown
and you're all alone,
flesh and bone,
by the telephone..."
Nathan flinched inwardly, almost surprised as he realized just how exact his assessment of Lindsey had been - the fact that Lindsey had consciously or not picked out that song, those lyrics, and knew them by heart proved just how long he must have been searching. But judging by the looks that now went back and forth between Lindsey and Eliot he'd say it was a safe bet that this search now was over. Even if the two stubborn mules perhaps would need another century to actually admit it.
"Reach out and touch faith..."
Lindsey closed his eyes as the last notes faded away. There was a moment of stunned silence and then everyone applauded. Parker actually beamed with delight and bounced on her seat. Nathan couldn't help but look very impressed and Sophie had a dreamy look on her face. Eliot just smiled softly and somehow proud. Lindsey looked up and grinned as Hardison did a wolf whistle.
"Awesome, man! And that... wow, Cash covered that? Damn!"
Lindsey grinned and nodded. "Yeah. Be prepared to hear stuff like this more often."
Hardison laughed. "Looks like country's not all that bad. And wow, that's a damn fine voice you got!"
"I know you must be tired, but can you do one more? Please?" Sophie asked hopefully.
Lindsey looked surprised and flattered. "Sure. Anything particular?"
Sophie shrugged. "I'd like to hear a ballad, maybe? If you know any? If that's okay for everyone?" She snuggled closer to Nathan, who slid his arm around her shoulder, and looked around for confirmation. Lindsey looked at the enthusiastic nods from Parker and Hardison and had to grin. He thought about it for a moment and then started picking a slow haunting tune.
"There are places I'll remember
All my life
Though some have changed
Some forever..."
Eliot watched him play, didn't take his eyes off him for one second, seeing Lindsey getting lost in the melody, the chords, the lyrics. He knew that his face was showing all the affection he had for Lindsey, and maybe even more than he was able or ready to admit. But it was alright here, at this particular moment, and besides, the others weren't looking anyway.
"But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one
Compares with you"
And then it happened. He heard Lindsey's voice falter for a split second, saw a flicker of... something... flashing over his face and while he caught himself very quickly, his eyes were now fixed on Eliot's face, his features showing a mixture of sudden realization, amazement and a little fear.
Eliot frowned. What just happened? And then he heard, actually heard what Lindsey was singing - heard and really listened to the lyrics.
"Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life
I love you more"
His brain stopped working for a moment. He didn't know if anyone else had caught what was going on, but he didn't hear any reaction, so he guessed not. It was obvious that Lindsey hadn't picked the song on purpose - he looked as thunderstruck as Eliot felt right now but managed to play on like nothing happened. He... he... he can't mean it like that, can he? He searched Lindsey's face and couldn't find a definite answer, but then he realized. He's... scared. As scared as I am, about committing. He wants it, but he's scared that it's too fast for me. Us.
And then Nate's voice came back to him. "You don't need to dive in head first. Small steps, okay?"
He almost snorted out loud and closed his eyes for a moment. Okay. Relationship. We'll... just go from there. That... I can do that. And I think I'll have to bring some of my stuff to his new place. Not moving in, of course, just... a few things. No reason to hurry, right?
He had to laugh at himself, at his own insecurity. He caught Lindsey's anxious look again and smiled at him, letting him know that yes, this was awkward, yes, he had no clue how to go on but yes, they would manage. He saw Lindsey's face light up as he was just starting the last chorus and looked and sounded confident again. As Eliot looked around at the others, he could see that only Nate had picked up some of the vibes - he had raised his eyebrows and now gave Eliot a pointedly questioning look.
Yeah. Course you noticed. Perceptive bastard. He just returned the look and gave him a quick nod. Nate grinned and turned his attention back to Lindsey who had now finished the last notes and slowly put the guitar down, not looking at anyone. The others applauded again and Parker looked a little flushed.
"Wow. You have an orgasm-inducing voice, Lindsey."
Alec's head flew around. "Hey!"
Parker patted his back. "Maybe he could sing for us when we..."
Alec interrupted quickly. "Yes, yes, sweetie, we'll talk about that later... in private, okay?" He groaned and threw an apologetic look at Lindsey who just at this moment failed to suppress his laughing fit any longer.
Eliot watched them all from behind, lips twitching. He saw Lindsey slowly catching his breath again, saw Sophie trying to hide that she blinked back a tear and listened to Parker and Hardison bickering about sex and privacy. He suddenly remembered his last meeting with Aimee.
"But I'm glad that you found a family." He had shrugged it off then, but now? Aimee, honey, you would be surprised now. He caught Lindsey's eyes and bit his lower lip. Really surprised...
He signaled his retreat to their room. He didn't want to interrupt the cheerful discussion about Johnny Cash, Depeche Mode and the pros and cons of cover versions Lindsey was having with Hardison, but he felt the need to be alone for a moment. Lindsey acknowledged it with a nod and a quick smile.
Eliot quietly left the living room and closed the guest room door behind him. Things you learned today, Eliot? You have a relationship going on. And it... could work out, for a change. Huh. He dropped down on the bed with a sigh and stretched out. He still could hear the chatter from the living room and figured that it would take some time until Lindsey could tear himself loose. I'll just close my eyes for a moment. Just... relax a bit. Just...
When Lindsey entered the room a few minutes later, Eliot was sound asleep. Lindsey looked down on him and barely resisted the urge to brush a strand of hair out of his face. Didn't sleep well, huh? Me neither. What a pair we make.
The physical and mental exhaustion slowly began to catch up. He felt tired, but in a good way - things had been resolved, other things, good things were starting to develop. He carefully slid onto the bed behind Eliot, pulled the blanket around both of them and hesitated just a bit before snuggling closer. He could hear a soft growl coming from Eliot and smiled against his back, eyes already falling shut.
Talking and everything else would just have to wait.