Fic: Interlude 2 (Methos/Eliot) All
Title: Interlude 2
Series: Chasing Death
Fandoms: Leverage/Highlander
Pairing: EliotSpencer/Methos
Summary: Season 3 outtakes.
3x01
Eliot managed to make it all the way to the door of his apartment before he slid down the wall. He clenched his hands until his knuckles were white and his short nails dug into his palms, but they finally stop shaking. Damien Moreau. They were going after Damien fucking Moreau.
It terrified him, how vulnerable the others are, how little they know about what they're getting into, and Eliot can't tell them. Nate is just stubborn enough that he would consider it a challenge, would consider himself good enough, to confront Moreau before he was prepared, and the others would follow him because they trusted him. Eliot couldn't let that happen.
Finally, Eliot pushed himself to his feet and unlocked his front door. Adam was there, feet up on the coffee table, book in hand, but the look he was giving Eliot was intense and penetrating. If Eliot were a lesser man, if he hadn't faced worse, he might have given in to the demand in Adam's look.
"Eliot, is everything alright?" Adam asked, putting the book to one side and dropping his feet to the floor. An aggressive move, to take a firmer position before confrontation, Eliot realised. He was so tired. Tired of not just watching his own back, but the team's as well. Tired of the guarded steps he and Adam danced.
Eliot turned to hang up his jacket as he considered the question. It would be easy to tell Adam about Moreau, about working for him, about everything he'd done. Adam would understand, he knew, because he could see the shadows in his eyes mirrored in Adam's. He wasn't worried about Adam attracting Moreau's attention. Adam knew better and knew what to do even if he did. Eliot wanted to tell Adam everything, but then he thought about the cabin and the fight and the lightning storm. He thought about 'Not yet'.
"Everything's fine," Eliot told him as he turned back around.
"Are you sure?"
"It's just been a long day," Eliot said as he settled down next to Adam. He smiled. If it was a little wan, Adam would no doubt assume it had to do with one of their jobs.
"I have just the thing," Adam told him as he pulled Eliot's feet up into his lap and untied his boots. Strong hands began to firmly massage the arch of his foot. Eliot leaned back and allowed his world to narrow to the pressure of fingertips on skin.
"You have magic hands."
"I have some tricks yet," Adam told him as he slid his hands up Eliot's calf. Eliot could hear the smirk in his voice. Despite himself, he smiled.
...
3x02
Eliot was too controlled to slam the front door, but it still closed more loudly than usual. Sophie was a conwoman, he knew that, and she thought nothing about manipulating people, but he thought after what happened with the two Davids, she'd have learned that manipulating him was a bad idea. It had been easier when he worked on his own. He didn't have to worry about who was lying to him about what. Now it seemed as though there was no direction he could turn with coming face-to-face with deception.
He was so distracted that he only now caught the smell of something burning and the faint sound of music. He spun around to see Adam lighting candles. He thought the singer was Brian or something. Adam always looked introspective and a little regretful when he played it.
"Parker called," Adam said, "and I know things haven't been easy recently." Something like remorse flashes across his face, gone almost instantly, but Eliot has had practice, especially recently, at reading his face and can see it clearly. Eliot has long figured remorse to be a useless feeling. Either something was worth the consequences or you learnt from the error and moved on. Adam had never seemed particularly inclined to indulge such sentiments, but Eliot was beginning to realise that he'd never really known Adam at all.
"It's nothing serious."
"Eliot," Adam began, then shook his head. Eliot felt the gulf between them. It was strange, how he could know so much about Adam and nothing really at all.
"It's alright, Adam. I'm just tired, that's all."
Adam moved towards him then and slid his jacket off his shoulders. He draped it over the back of a chair and took Eliot's hand in his. He slid his other arm around Eliot's waist.
"Maybe I can help," Adam suggested as he began to sway to the music. Eliot pulled Adam closer to him and rested his forehead on the taller man's shoulder.
"I just had an issue with Sophie. More of the usual."
"Should I call Amanda again?" he asked. Eliot grimaced a smile.
"That won't be necessary."
"Probably just as well," Adam agreed and he rested his cheek to Eliot's. "I wish..." He trailed off and Eliot pulled away a little to look at him. "I wish," he repeated with a sigh.
"I know."
...
3x03
"Archie," Parker said, a little uncharacteristically hesitant, "I met someone."
"Is this about that boy of yours?" he asked, leaning heavily on his cane.
"Oh no, he's Eliot's boy. Only he's not a boy. And maybe Eliot's his instead. Only it's complicated at the moment." She frowned, trying to puzzle out what had changed between the two men because it was like when Sophie left. It was all wrong and she didn't know what exactly had broken or how it could be fixed.
"Parker," Archie said, trying to forestall what he could see becoming a rather confused digression. "You met someone?"
"Oh, Adam. He lets me call him Pooky and pretend he's bunny. He thinks I'm a diamond."
"Sounds interesting," Archie said indulgently.
"He's been teaching me, like you did, only different."
"Oh?"
"He says I haven't played with my inner child enough. I got to watch Ghost Busters the other day." She said 'Ghost Busters' with emphasis. Archie smiled. "And I went to a carnival. And I'm learning to play Uno."
"Sounds like you've been having a lot of fun." Parker's smile was radiant.
"I just thought you should know. I mean, he's not family either, not really, but he's like you," she added, looking at Archie earnestly.
"Thanks, Kiddo. I'm glad to know you've had someone you can go to."
...
3x06
Hardison frowned as he scanned the information on the screen. They were back at Nate's place and Hardison was doing his usual post-job cleanup.
"Eliot," Hardison said, hesitant and a little skittish. Despite how familiar they'd all grown with each other, there was a point over which none of them would step. It was just more obvious when it came to dealing with Eliot. "You know how you were saying about being seen being a bad thing..."
"Yes."
"Would someone finding you be on the level of 'you have an errand to run for an hour or so' or 'oh my god, we're all going to die, flee for our lives'?"
"Hardison," Eliot growled.
"Oh my god," Hardison started before Eliot advanced on him enough to intimidate him into silence. "It's totally 'flee for our lives' isn't it?"
"Hardison, what have you found?" Eliot asked, hoping to focus the distractible man.
"Someone's been tracking your appearances online and removing what they could. They're good. Not as good as me, obviously, but, you know, not unskilled," Hardison rambled.
"They're deleting everything? Not using it to narrow down my location?"
"Looks that way," Hardison said, tapping away at his keyboard. Eliot leaned over Hardison's shoulder watching as he worked, even if he didn't understand a thing. He was a little horrified by the number of windows Hardison had open with fansites and videos of him, but they were slowly disappearing, coming up with error messages instead. It had Adam's stamp all over it. He'd never hear the end of this. Surprisingly, it didn't concern him all that much.
"Make sure they get everything."
"So no running and screaming and dying?"
"Maybe tomorrow."
...
3x12
"Adam, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything," Adam said immediately and Eliot stopped short for a moment, startled by the answer.
Things hadn't been right between them for a while now, not since the cabin. Eliot looked at Adam, judging his expression, from the sardonic twist to his mouth to the warmth in his eyes. Leaning forward Eliot pressed a kiss to the other man's lips. He rested his forehead against Adam's. Finally, he was able to look at him without automatically thinking about 'Not yet'.
"There's a little girl who's been taken into custody for smuggling." Adam simply looked at him expectantly. "I was hoping you could pull out a law degree from the magic bag of skills you seem to have."
"I think I can arrange something," Adam said with a wicked grin. This was the Adam Eliot had grown to love; enigmatic, dark and dangerous. Adam had his own past and his own secrets, just like Eliot - Moreau weighed heavily on his mind. It wasn't fair to condemn him for what Eliot did himself, for what Eliot loved about him.
...
3x14
Eliot folded his arms across his chest and scowled as he listened to Nate lay out the plan. He was supposed to have some time off, he was supposed to be with Adam, he was supposed to get back to where they used to be. He had been considering, for some time, telling Adam about Moreau, but he wasn't sure how to at this point, wasn't sure how to lay bare that part of himself. First, he'd have to deal with this stupid Christmas mission, spurred on by Parker's irrepressible enthusiasm. As soon as Nate sent them all off on their own missions, Eliot pulled out his phone and dialled Adam.
"I'm not going to be home tonight," Eliot told him. He hesitated. "There's something I need to tell you."
"How prepared do I need to be? Standard arsenal or do I need to dig into the special items?" Adam asked.
Eliot had never had that before, blanket acceptance and support. It didn't matter what Eliot was planning, Adam would be there, by his side. Surely the least Eliot could do was give Adam the same?
"Nothing like that. Not yet."
"You spoil all my fun," Adam said. Eliot could almost hear the grin in his voice. "I'll be here when you get back."
Eliot exhaled slowly, still not entirely sure what to do with the solidity of Adam's presence in his life.
"Unless you're at Joe's."
"Well I can't very well let an open bar tab go to waste."
...
3x16
Moreau rose to his feet when he noticed something moving in the shadows.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
"Who I am isn't important," Methos said, stepping out into the meagre light, grey hoodie casting his face in shadow. "What I am, is."
"And what's that?" Moreau asked with a scoff.
"Death."
"You think you frighten me?"
"I should. When all the known world had nightmares, it used to be about me. When they told stories around the campfire, they were about me. I was Death on a pale horse and hell followed in my wake," Methos said with a chilling smile as he moved steadily toward the bars even as Moreau backed away from them.
"You know why I stopped?" he continued. "It wasn't because I felt bad. It wasn't because I grew a conscience or because I loved," he added with a sneer. "It was because I was bored. I had nothing worth fighting for anymore. That's no longer the case."
Methos stopped just in front of the bars and stared unnervingly at Moreau until Moreau had to avert his gaze.
"I would bring the world to ruin for Eliot. Starting with you."
Moreau's eyes widened at the reference to Eliot, then he smirked.
"He'd never stand for it. He's one of the good guys now."
Eliot had his secrets, had his own dark past, but there was nothing there that Methos couldn't accept, hadn't done himself at one point or another. Because of that Eliot knew him better than anyone alive, even if Eliot didn't know the specifics. Just like Methos knew Eliot better than most. He smiled, slow and easy.
"I have time on my side."
Series: Chasing Death
Fandoms: Leverage/Highlander
Pairing: EliotSpencer/Methos
Summary: Season 3 outtakes.
3x01
Eliot managed to make it all the way to the door of his apartment before he slid down the wall. He clenched his hands until his knuckles were white and his short nails dug into his palms, but they finally stop shaking. Damien Moreau. They were going after Damien fucking Moreau.
It terrified him, how vulnerable the others are, how little they know about what they're getting into, and Eliot can't tell them. Nate is just stubborn enough that he would consider it a challenge, would consider himself good enough, to confront Moreau before he was prepared, and the others would follow him because they trusted him. Eliot couldn't let that happen.
Finally, Eliot pushed himself to his feet and unlocked his front door. Adam was there, feet up on the coffee table, book in hand, but the look he was giving Eliot was intense and penetrating. If Eliot were a lesser man, if he hadn't faced worse, he might have given in to the demand in Adam's look.
"Eliot, is everything alright?" Adam asked, putting the book to one side and dropping his feet to the floor. An aggressive move, to take a firmer position before confrontation, Eliot realised. He was so tired. Tired of not just watching his own back, but the team's as well. Tired of the guarded steps he and Adam danced.
Eliot turned to hang up his jacket as he considered the question. It would be easy to tell Adam about Moreau, about working for him, about everything he'd done. Adam would understand, he knew, because he could see the shadows in his eyes mirrored in Adam's. He wasn't worried about Adam attracting Moreau's attention. Adam knew better and knew what to do even if he did. Eliot wanted to tell Adam everything, but then he thought about the cabin and the fight and the lightning storm. He thought about 'Not yet'.
"Everything's fine," Eliot told him as he turned back around.
"Are you sure?"
"It's just been a long day," Eliot said as he settled down next to Adam. He smiled. If it was a little wan, Adam would no doubt assume it had to do with one of their jobs.
"I have just the thing," Adam told him as he pulled Eliot's feet up into his lap and untied his boots. Strong hands began to firmly massage the arch of his foot. Eliot leaned back and allowed his world to narrow to the pressure of fingertips on skin.
"You have magic hands."
"I have some tricks yet," Adam told him as he slid his hands up Eliot's calf. Eliot could hear the smirk in his voice. Despite himself, he smiled.
...
3x02
Eliot was too controlled to slam the front door, but it still closed more loudly than usual. Sophie was a conwoman, he knew that, and she thought nothing about manipulating people, but he thought after what happened with the two Davids, she'd have learned that manipulating him was a bad idea. It had been easier when he worked on his own. He didn't have to worry about who was lying to him about what. Now it seemed as though there was no direction he could turn with coming face-to-face with deception.
He was so distracted that he only now caught the smell of something burning and the faint sound of music. He spun around to see Adam lighting candles. He thought the singer was Brian or something. Adam always looked introspective and a little regretful when he played it.
"Parker called," Adam said, "and I know things haven't been easy recently." Something like remorse flashes across his face, gone almost instantly, but Eliot has had practice, especially recently, at reading his face and can see it clearly. Eliot has long figured remorse to be a useless feeling. Either something was worth the consequences or you learnt from the error and moved on. Adam had never seemed particularly inclined to indulge such sentiments, but Eliot was beginning to realise that he'd never really known Adam at all.
"It's nothing serious."
"Eliot," Adam began, then shook his head. Eliot felt the gulf between them. It was strange, how he could know so much about Adam and nothing really at all.
"It's alright, Adam. I'm just tired, that's all."
Adam moved towards him then and slid his jacket off his shoulders. He draped it over the back of a chair and took Eliot's hand in his. He slid his other arm around Eliot's waist.
"Maybe I can help," Adam suggested as he began to sway to the music. Eliot pulled Adam closer to him and rested his forehead on the taller man's shoulder.
"I just had an issue with Sophie. More of the usual."
"Should I call Amanda again?" he asked. Eliot grimaced a smile.
"That won't be necessary."
"Probably just as well," Adam agreed and he rested his cheek to Eliot's. "I wish..." He trailed off and Eliot pulled away a little to look at him. "I wish," he repeated with a sigh.
"I know."
...
3x03
"Archie," Parker said, a little uncharacteristically hesitant, "I met someone."
"Is this about that boy of yours?" he asked, leaning heavily on his cane.
"Oh no, he's Eliot's boy. Only he's not a boy. And maybe Eliot's his instead. Only it's complicated at the moment." She frowned, trying to puzzle out what had changed between the two men because it was like when Sophie left. It was all wrong and she didn't know what exactly had broken or how it could be fixed.
"Parker," Archie said, trying to forestall what he could see becoming a rather confused digression. "You met someone?"
"Oh, Adam. He lets me call him Pooky and pretend he's bunny. He thinks I'm a diamond."
"Sounds interesting," Archie said indulgently.
"He's been teaching me, like you did, only different."
"Oh?"
"He says I haven't played with my inner child enough. I got to watch Ghost Busters the other day." She said 'Ghost Busters' with emphasis. Archie smiled. "And I went to a carnival. And I'm learning to play Uno."
"Sounds like you've been having a lot of fun." Parker's smile was radiant.
"I just thought you should know. I mean, he's not family either, not really, but he's like you," she added, looking at Archie earnestly.
"Thanks, Kiddo. I'm glad to know you've had someone you can go to."
...
3x06
Hardison frowned as he scanned the information on the screen. They were back at Nate's place and Hardison was doing his usual post-job cleanup.
"Eliot," Hardison said, hesitant and a little skittish. Despite how familiar they'd all grown with each other, there was a point over which none of them would step. It was just more obvious when it came to dealing with Eliot. "You know how you were saying about being seen being a bad thing..."
"Yes."
"Would someone finding you be on the level of 'you have an errand to run for an hour or so' or 'oh my god, we're all going to die, flee for our lives'?"
"Hardison," Eliot growled.
"Oh my god," Hardison started before Eliot advanced on him enough to intimidate him into silence. "It's totally 'flee for our lives' isn't it?"
"Hardison, what have you found?" Eliot asked, hoping to focus the distractible man.
"Someone's been tracking your appearances online and removing what they could. They're good. Not as good as me, obviously, but, you know, not unskilled," Hardison rambled.
"They're deleting everything? Not using it to narrow down my location?"
"Looks that way," Hardison said, tapping away at his keyboard. Eliot leaned over Hardison's shoulder watching as he worked, even if he didn't understand a thing. He was a little horrified by the number of windows Hardison had open with fansites and videos of him, but they were slowly disappearing, coming up with error messages instead. It had Adam's stamp all over it. He'd never hear the end of this. Surprisingly, it didn't concern him all that much.
"Make sure they get everything."
"So no running and screaming and dying?"
"Maybe tomorrow."
...
3x12
"Adam, I need you to do something for me."
"Anything," Adam said immediately and Eliot stopped short for a moment, startled by the answer.
Things hadn't been right between them for a while now, not since the cabin. Eliot looked at Adam, judging his expression, from the sardonic twist to his mouth to the warmth in his eyes. Leaning forward Eliot pressed a kiss to the other man's lips. He rested his forehead against Adam's. Finally, he was able to look at him without automatically thinking about 'Not yet'.
"There's a little girl who's been taken into custody for smuggling." Adam simply looked at him expectantly. "I was hoping you could pull out a law degree from the magic bag of skills you seem to have."
"I think I can arrange something," Adam said with a wicked grin. This was the Adam Eliot had grown to love; enigmatic, dark and dangerous. Adam had his own past and his own secrets, just like Eliot - Moreau weighed heavily on his mind. It wasn't fair to condemn him for what Eliot did himself, for what Eliot loved about him.
...
3x14
Eliot folded his arms across his chest and scowled as he listened to Nate lay out the plan. He was supposed to have some time off, he was supposed to be with Adam, he was supposed to get back to where they used to be. He had been considering, for some time, telling Adam about Moreau, but he wasn't sure how to at this point, wasn't sure how to lay bare that part of himself. First, he'd have to deal with this stupid Christmas mission, spurred on by Parker's irrepressible enthusiasm. As soon as Nate sent them all off on their own missions, Eliot pulled out his phone and dialled Adam.
"I'm not going to be home tonight," Eliot told him. He hesitated. "There's something I need to tell you."
"How prepared do I need to be? Standard arsenal or do I need to dig into the special items?" Adam asked.
Eliot had never had that before, blanket acceptance and support. It didn't matter what Eliot was planning, Adam would be there, by his side. Surely the least Eliot could do was give Adam the same?
"Nothing like that. Not yet."
"You spoil all my fun," Adam said. Eliot could almost hear the grin in his voice. "I'll be here when you get back."
Eliot exhaled slowly, still not entirely sure what to do with the solidity of Adam's presence in his life.
"Unless you're at Joe's."
"Well I can't very well let an open bar tab go to waste."
...
3x16
Moreau rose to his feet when he noticed something moving in the shadows.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
"Who I am isn't important," Methos said, stepping out into the meagre light, grey hoodie casting his face in shadow. "What I am, is."
"And what's that?" Moreau asked with a scoff.
"Death."
"You think you frighten me?"
"I should. When all the known world had nightmares, it used to be about me. When they told stories around the campfire, they were about me. I was Death on a pale horse and hell followed in my wake," Methos said with a chilling smile as he moved steadily toward the bars even as Moreau backed away from them.
"You know why I stopped?" he continued. "It wasn't because I felt bad. It wasn't because I grew a conscience or because I loved," he added with a sneer. "It was because I was bored. I had nothing worth fighting for anymore. That's no longer the case."
Methos stopped just in front of the bars and stared unnervingly at Moreau until Moreau had to avert his gaze.
"I would bring the world to ruin for Eliot. Starting with you."
Moreau's eyes widened at the reference to Eliot, then he smirked.
"He'd never stand for it. He's one of the good guys now."
Eliot had his secrets, had his own dark past, but there was nothing there that Methos couldn't accept, hadn't done himself at one point or another. Because of that Eliot knew him better than anyone alive, even if Eliot didn't know the specifics. Just like Methos knew Eliot better than most. He smiled, slow and easy.
"I have time on my side."