Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage, Delvin has all the credit for that!
I wrote this after recieving amazing feedback from a LJ member on how much she loved I Brush You ( Which I really hate the title for, any suggestions?) You do not have to read that story to get this story.
Eliot's had someone to come home to but like a lot of things that were different he hadn't had someone like Alec to come home to. It wasn't new having a family that cared if he came home but it was new actually putting conscious thought into making sure he tried to come home. Just like it wasn't new for him to trust someone but it was new that he trusted someone so easily. Alec made it easy to trust with his open honest face, the easy way he strung words together, when he lied to one of the family his eyes would twitch between the one he was lying to and Nate. Like he thought Nate always knew when he lied. It wasn't just Nate. It wasn't the first time Eliot had worked with a team; it was just the first time he hadn't tried to double cross a team.
When Eliot had come home to Amiee it was usually with a cold shoulder and, "Where the hell have you been?" She was concerned and it showed in the sadness of her eyes but she just hadn't gotten it and Eliot wasn't sure he could explain it to her. With Alec though he barely ever said a word good or bad; usually Alec would check him over no matter how many times he told Alec he was okay. Then march him off either to the bathroom if he thought Eliot needed some sort of tending to, or to the bedroom where Alec usually needed the tending to.
On the Monday mornings when Eliot had been too exhausted to go to Alec's and had just wanted to pass out without having a mother-hen attack him, he found himself pushed into the locker room and was being stripped before he could even say a word. To be honest the first time it happen he thought Alec was going to fuck him but it turned out that he was desperate to find some reason as to why Eliot wouldn't come by. Like Eliot must have been seriously hurt if in Alec's words, "Leave me hangin' like a high five. Jesus El I thought something had happen to you!" Then it had been Eliot that was fucking Alec because he couldn't remember the last time someone had cared like that and the whole time Alec had whispered, "Don't you fucking do that again, ever again." Eliot did do it again for the hot sex it brought on but only a few times.
The last time Eliot didn't show up at Alec's Sunday night he also didn't show up for work Monday morning. He didn't remember too much about the weekend or the subsequent week and a half of recovery. He did remember that he promised Alec that if didn't come by his place every Sunday then something was wrong. It didn't seem like such a big deal to promise that to Alec; not after Alec was the one that practically nursed him back to health.
One Sunday he showed up bloodied with a broken rib and possibly a broken finger; the horror on Alec's face made him cringe away. "Trust me it just looks bad." He joked.
"Looks bad Eliot? Christ you look like you went a few rounds with Tyson." Alec wasted no time in rushing him back to the bathroom. Eliot had always sort of marveled at Alec's bathroom; it was spacious with not only one of those actual footed bath tubs but also a stall shower that easily fit the two of them. He wasn't sure if they could both get in the tub; it was a little more intimate than they had gone before.
"I could take Tyson." Alec's head bounced in agreement a smile playing at his lips. Alec pushed on his tender ribs, that injury had come from the day before but the rest had been from right before he'd left Texas in a cloud of dust and only the tail lights showing. He still couldn't stop the small gasp of pain as Alec pushed right on the broken rib.
"Damn it Eliot," Alec muttered getting out the the needle and thread to stitch up a particularly nasty cut on his head. "I can't believe you drove all the way home like this."
"At lease I came home.." As soon as the words started to leave his mouth Eliot knew that they were the wrong ones to say. Alec's eyes snapped to Eliot's and they were wide with fear. "I didn't mean it like that."
"And how the hell else could you have meant it?" He snapped at Eliot pointedly looking away and continuing to sew up the cut on his head.
"I meant I could have stayed where I was." No chance in hell of that happening but Alec didn't need to know that.
Alec nodded but didn't say anything else for a long moment. "You don't have to do it at all." He said in a quiet voice that cut through Eliot. "I don't understand why you do. You don't need the money, right? Because if you do I can always cheat the system again. For you." Like it would matter to Nate who Alec cheated the system for.
"I don't need money." It was ridiculous for the hacker to think that he would. What would a man like Eliot do with all the money the hacker had gotten for them the first time? Nothing.
"Then explain to me why you feel the need each weekend to drive all over the country doing side-jobs." Alec was putting away the first-aid kit and doing a hell of a job not looking Eliot in the eyes.
Eliot grunted and pushed Alec a step away so he could move from his pinned position by the sink. "I just do it." Alec grunted and it spoke volumes to how much that statement pissed him off. "Sometimes---Sometimes what we do isn't all that exciting." Eliot said carefully.
"So you're an adrenaline junky who's day job isn't exciting enough?" Alec's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Go paragliding then." He tossed the soiled towels that he had used to clean Eliot off with towards the hamper.
"Hey," Eliot grabbed his wrist and pulled him back towards him. "What's up man? You're really on edge." He ran a soothing hand down Alec's face, trying to at least show the younger man some of the things he had a hard time saying.
Alec huffed out a breath of air that felt like it held more than carbon dioxide. "I just don't know..." Alec looked over Eliot's left shoulder. "I don't like playin' the waiting woman, okay?"
"What?" Eliot's a little more than confused.
"Shit Eliot." Alec looked him in the eye quickly before looking back over his shoulder. "Sometimes I feel like you might not get back and then I'll be looking at the horizon wondering..." Eliot knows that Alec is blushing. "It's not a cool feeling, okay?"
Eliot's not sure what to say, not sure if he should say anything at all. "Alec.. I'm always going to come home." Alec doesn't look convinced but he finally meets Eliot's eyes and holds them for a few seconds.
"How about you wash the rest of the funk off you and come to bed." Alec pushed him towards the shower and Eliot almost suggests a bath but he isn't sure how well it will go over with the younger man considering their discussion. There is also that little loner still in him that needs the space an shower will give him; so he doesn't suggest a dip in the tub, nor does he drag Alec into the shower with him like he would almost any other Sunday.
Instead he watches Alec leave the bathroom shutting the door with a soft click behind him. It's not the first time Eliot's had someone to come home to, but it's definitely the first time he's going to make it a point to always come home.