Fic: Becoming (Leverage/Highlander) All
Title: Becoming
Fandoms: Leverage/Highlander
Pairing: EliotSpencer/Methos
Summary: Parker has an existential crisis.
Spoilers: Mention made of info found out in The Beantown Bailout Job, but set before that.
Methos eyed his window once again. It had been almost an hour since Parker had dropped down to hang outside, but she hadn’t made any further moves. Finally, he went over and opened the window. Parker stared at him with wide eyes but didn’t say anything.
“You coming in?” he asked.
“You could come out,” she suggested. Methos looked over her rig; it was a little unusual, definitely not standard fare, but a good design. It wasn’t like the fall would kill him permanently anyway.
“I could,” he said, “but then the food would get cold.”
“What food?” Parker asked. There was a hopeful undertone and he supposed she hoped it was something Eliot had made, but Eliot was in Pakistan where neither of them could reach him.
“Just toasted cheese.”
“I like cheese.”
Methos opened the window a little wider and gestured Parker in. She still didn’t move. With a sigh, he climbed out onto his windowsill and sat, legs dangling over the edge. Parker stared unblinkingly at him. It would have been unnerving, but he’d spent more than 1000 years in Kronos’s, and for that matter Caspian’s, company. She smiled a little when he didn’t become uncomfortable and Methos assumed that there weren’t many people who weren’t put off by her.
“So, Parker, how can I help you?”
“Eliot’s not here.” It was a statement, so Methos waited for her to continue. “No one’s where they’re supposed to be.”
“Sometimes people have to be where they’re not supposed to be before they can know where they are supposed to be.”
Parker looked thoughtful for a moment before she nodded. She spun a little in her rig and Methos felt sympathetic dizziness.
“How can you be something other than what you are?” Parker asked him. She looked lost and a little scared, and she clung to her rig as though it was a lifeline. Which Methos supposed it was in a rather literal way. He sighed. She wasn’t even going to let him ease into conversation before she hit him with the big questions.
“It’s not a matter of being other than what you are; it’s a matter of what you are changing.”
If anything she looked more miserable, but then Methos knew just how scary and painful being forced to change was, even if it was something you wanted.
“I stole a diamond, the Hope Diamond, and then I put it back.”
Methos smiled a little and put it in terms she could understand, “People are like diamonds. They start out as carbon, raw and without shape. Then life exerts pressure on them, until they’re forced to form rough, uncut diamonds. It’s only with experience and the choices we make that the diamonds are shaped into each individual cut.”
“You know that’s not how it really happens.”
“I know, Parker, it’s a metaphor.”
“Oh. Does that mean I’m a diamond?” Parker asked, looking unaccountably pleased.
“You, Parker, are unique.”
She grinned.
“Where’s the cheese?” she asked suddenly. Methos climbed back inside and she jumped in after him, landing gracefully.
“Come on,” he said, leading her into the kitchen.
…
Once they’d eaten, a disconcerting experience with Parker silently watching him from where she perched on the stool at the counter, Methos settled on the sofa while Parker wandered around his apartment. There wasn’t anything too valuable or shiny on display, so he didn’t watch her too carefully. Besides, Eliot had said they were training her against ‘borrowing’ things from her teammates. He opened his book to the relevant page and continued on from where he’d left off. Finally, Parker settled next to him and curled into his side.
“Can you be bunny tonight?” she asked. Methos had only the vaguest inklings of who bunny might be but he agreed anyway.
“Want me to read to you?” he asked. Her brow creased in a frown, obviously trying to decide if she wanted to be offended he was treating her like a child or reassured that he was comforting her. “It’s something I occasionally do with Eliot.” She nodded briefly and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Of all our adventures this was the first in which I had played a commanding part; and, of them all, this was infinitely the least discreditable,” Methos began. “It left me without a conscientious qualm; I had but robbed a robber, when all was said. And I had done it myself, single-handed-ipse egomet!”
As he read, Parker began to fall asleep and Methos allowed himself to relax for the first time since Eliot had gone overseas. It was a horrible temptation, to feel needed, he thought.
“In the morning I’ll show you the world,” Methos said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, thinking of another apparently frail girl who hadn’t known where she stood either and who had come to rely on him to show her.
“But I’ve seen the world. I like it upside down the most.”
“Not like this,” he said.
Fandoms: Leverage/Highlander
Pairing: EliotSpencer/Methos
Summary: Parker has an existential crisis.
Spoilers: Mention made of info found out in The Beantown Bailout Job, but set before that.
Methos eyed his window once again. It had been almost an hour since Parker had dropped down to hang outside, but she hadn’t made any further moves. Finally, he went over and opened the window. Parker stared at him with wide eyes but didn’t say anything.
“You coming in?” he asked.
“You could come out,” she suggested. Methos looked over her rig; it was a little unusual, definitely not standard fare, but a good design. It wasn’t like the fall would kill him permanently anyway.
“I could,” he said, “but then the food would get cold.”
“What food?” Parker asked. There was a hopeful undertone and he supposed she hoped it was something Eliot had made, but Eliot was in Pakistan where neither of them could reach him.
“Just toasted cheese.”
“I like cheese.”
Methos opened the window a little wider and gestured Parker in. She still didn’t move. With a sigh, he climbed out onto his windowsill and sat, legs dangling over the edge. Parker stared unblinkingly at him. It would have been unnerving, but he’d spent more than 1000 years in Kronos’s, and for that matter Caspian’s, company. She smiled a little when he didn’t become uncomfortable and Methos assumed that there weren’t many people who weren’t put off by her.
“So, Parker, how can I help you?”
“Eliot’s not here.” It was a statement, so Methos waited for her to continue. “No one’s where they’re supposed to be.”
“Sometimes people have to be where they’re not supposed to be before they can know where they are supposed to be.”
Parker looked thoughtful for a moment before she nodded. She spun a little in her rig and Methos felt sympathetic dizziness.
“How can you be something other than what you are?” Parker asked him. She looked lost and a little scared, and she clung to her rig as though it was a lifeline. Which Methos supposed it was in a rather literal way. He sighed. She wasn’t even going to let him ease into conversation before she hit him with the big questions.
“It’s not a matter of being other than what you are; it’s a matter of what you are changing.”
If anything she looked more miserable, but then Methos knew just how scary and painful being forced to change was, even if it was something you wanted.
“I stole a diamond, the Hope Diamond, and then I put it back.”
Methos smiled a little and put it in terms she could understand, “People are like diamonds. They start out as carbon, raw and without shape. Then life exerts pressure on them, until they’re forced to form rough, uncut diamonds. It’s only with experience and the choices we make that the diamonds are shaped into each individual cut.”
“You know that’s not how it really happens.”
“I know, Parker, it’s a metaphor.”
“Oh. Does that mean I’m a diamond?” Parker asked, looking unaccountably pleased.
“You, Parker, are unique.”
She grinned.
“Where’s the cheese?” she asked suddenly. Methos climbed back inside and she jumped in after him, landing gracefully.
“Come on,” he said, leading her into the kitchen.
…
Once they’d eaten, a disconcerting experience with Parker silently watching him from where she perched on the stool at the counter, Methos settled on the sofa while Parker wandered around his apartment. There wasn’t anything too valuable or shiny on display, so he didn’t watch her too carefully. Besides, Eliot had said they were training her against ‘borrowing’ things from her teammates. He opened his book to the relevant page and continued on from where he’d left off. Finally, Parker settled next to him and curled into his side.
“Can you be bunny tonight?” she asked. Methos had only the vaguest inklings of who bunny might be but he agreed anyway.
“Want me to read to you?” he asked. Her brow creased in a frown, obviously trying to decide if she wanted to be offended he was treating her like a child or reassured that he was comforting her. “It’s something I occasionally do with Eliot.” She nodded briefly and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Of all our adventures this was the first in which I had played a commanding part; and, of them all, this was infinitely the least discreditable,” Methos began. “It left me without a conscientious qualm; I had but robbed a robber, when all was said. And I had done it myself, single-handed-ipse egomet!”
As he read, Parker began to fall asleep and Methos allowed himself to relax for the first time since Eliot had gone overseas. It was a horrible temptation, to feel needed, he thought.
“In the morning I’ll show you the world,” Methos said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, thinking of another apparently frail girl who hadn’t known where she stood either and who had come to rely on him to show her.
“But I’ve seen the world. I like it upside down the most.”
“Not like this,” he said.