Title: Whatever makes you happy

Pairing: Parker/Eliot

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Spoilers: None, that I can think of.

Author's note: This might be the longest once shot I've ever written, at lease Leverage fanfiction that is. I had this for a little while until I decided to sent it to my beta and post it. I sorta like this becasue this isn't a 100% Parker/Eliot fic, but its more like a team/family fic so yeah. I hope you like it and please don't forget to review.

Love ya,

Fran

ps: It took me forever to come up with a title so when I did I started singing "Creep" cause you know? 'whatever makes you happy, whatever you want' see?

"You don't keep tabs on everyone, do you?" Hardison had questioned me and my only reply was to pretend to be asleep. Truth was, I did keep tabs on everyone. When I first met them, I felt there was too much information I needed to learn and even though I am very smart I couldn't just memorize it all. So I bought a little notebook and wrote important information about each member of the team, because I wanted to get to know them better. They were my family now.

Important information like this one; Hardison, for example, likes this TV show called Doctor Who. He even stays up very late to watch episodes and even tried to convince me to stay up with him. He also likes gummy bears and keeps bags of those candies around the house, he's also very possessive of them to the point he will yell at you if you take a bag (like I once did). Once he found a game called 'Plants vs Zombies' and made me play with him for a little while but I didn't understand why plants could kill zombies with these little green balls. He got angry when I asked him to explain this to me. We never played again.

Sophie. She drinks her coffee with two sugars and a little bit of cream. She keeps a bucket of 'special ice cream' in the refrigerator for when things go wrong with Nate, though she hardly admits that's what she keeps it for. And even if she says it's special, I know it's just chocolate. She likes going shopping, but often complains she doesn't have a shopping partner and it gets boring for her. Tried to convince me but I don't really like shopping.

Nate. He pours too much whiskey in his coffee. I know this for a fact, because one day he went to the men's room and I tasted and it was awful. He doesn't tell Sophie 'cause she will get mad at him, but he has a bottle of whiskey hidden next to the refrigerator. After a con is over he takes a small sip.

He doesn't know that I broke that bottle two days ago. He hasn't noticed because he has been too busy. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

Let's talk about Eliot. What can I say about him? His hair is very soft, I know this because one time he fell asleep on the couch and I touched it, strangely enough he didn't notice but leaned into my touch and sighed. That had never happened before, and it was the last time I did it. He likes cooking and when he does, he is really good at it. He makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted in my life. He always looks like he's angry at the world, always with a frown on his face, but one time I caught him staring at me and I could have sworn he was smiling. He looked away and pretended he didn't notice.
Hardison says he needs a hug. He says that maybe if someone shared some 'lovin'' with him he wouldn't be so angry all the time, he even suggested to get him a girlfriend. I told him it wasn't a good idea and he told me I was jealous. I couldn't reply to that…

After knowing all this somehow I wanted to make them happy. Super happy. I wanted to see them smile with joy and see the excitement in their eyes because I knew that would make me happy. Strangely enough, I never thought I would do things for others just to see them happy, I never thought I would find a family like this, it makes everything worth it.

"Hardison!" I yelled as I stepped into Nate's apartment. He got up from his seat in front of the computer and walked towards me. "I got you something. Here."

The surprise in his face said it all; eyes wide open, mouth slightly ajar. Who would have known that only a little blue box would make him happy?

"Holy shit, Parker!" he said, holding the gift in his hands as if it were the greatest thing in the whole wide world. "Where did you get this? Oh wait no, don't tell me."

"I didn't steal it if that's what you were thinking. I do shop things, you know?" I told him. He nodded and later gave me a very tight hug that almost left me breathless.

"Thank you, this is fantastic." he said.

"You're welcome."

One down, three more to go.

Next one was Sophie. There wasn't something I could give her, but rather something I could do for her or with her, in this case. Even if that small thing would make me miserable.

It was weekend, and although most of us had things to do (or pretended they had) we still stayed home and watched a movie or something. We sat on the couch, watching something Hardison had found online as we hate popcorn and drank Eliot's special beer. Or I drank his special beer? I can't remember.

"Sophie, do you wanna go shopping?" I asked her. All eyes suddenly were on me, frowning with confusion. Except Sophie, she had the biggest grin I had ever seen on her.

"Really?" she asked me. "You wanna go shopping? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"We're gonna have so much fun!" she spoke eagerly, already standing up and grabbing her purse. "Come on!"

"Now? We're gonna go now?" I questioned her. She only smiled. "Alright then, let's go."

Well, Sophie and I had a very different definition of fun. She liked walking into each shop and walking around for a little bit, even if she didn't want to buy anything. We did the same thing the entire day. It was plain torture for me, but Sophie was incredibly happy so what was left for me to do but to follow her everywhere she went? Besides, this was about her not about me, at least she was having a blast and I did get new clothes and shoes so I guess that was okay.

Two down, two more to go.

I took my time thinking about what I could do to make Nate happy. It wasn't easy. He was always sad and drinking, and no matter how many times he smiled when he was with us there was still something clouding that momentary happiness. Then I remembered that I had done something he didn't know about and maybe I could make it up to him even though he had no idea what I had done.

I gave him what he liked the most at the moment (but everyone hated).

"I already have this." Nate said, as I handed him the bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey, and he eyed behind me where the old bottle was supposed to be and found it empty. "What happened with…"

"I broke it." I replied quickly. "It was an accident. I wasn't supposed to buy this because I know Sophie will hate me for it, but this is what you like, so enjoy!"

"Why are you doing this?" Nate asked me. Quite frankly I was wondering why he hadn't done that before, question me, so I wasn't surprise when he finally did it. "Buying things for us, going out with Sophie. I don't understand?"

"Because you're my family." I replied. "And you have to do anything in your power to make your family happy."

He just smiled and walked away, bottle in hand. This time he saved it somewhere I couldn't break it.

Three down, one more to go.

'I didn't think this through,' was the first thing I thought. Why? Well, because if Nate was difficult, Eliot was twice as hard. What did he like? Food, but then again everyone did. Clothes? All I knew was that his favorite color was blue, and he liked beanies, but he also had tons of them. He liked fighting, but it wasn't like I was going to set him up to get his ass kicked. So what could I give to him that could make him smile? And why on earth was I more nervous about giving something to him than with the rest of the team?

I spent two days watching him walk around the apartment, cooking, watching TV or even talking to Hardison, trying to figure out what I could do or give him to make him smile like he had done a few times. Then it hit me, all of a sudden, what Hardison had said a while back and I had partially agreed on with him. It was one thing to make that happen; the other very different thing was to see how he was going to react.
I wasn't scared. I was anxious maybe? Nervous? Yeah, a little bit, which would explain why my heart started beating faster the minute I thought about it.

I had a plan. I was just supposed to catch Eliot by surprise, so that way he wouldn't walk away from me, and just give him the hug that he deserved. A tight hug, almost leaving him out of breath type of hug. At least that was what Hardison told me and that was the way I was going to do it.

Why I wore that sweet perfume if I was just supposed to hug him was beyond me.

Eliot was completely focused on his cooking, the smell that emerged from the kitchen was to drive anyone crazy, and it was exquisite. I had no idea what he was making but it sure would be more than fantastic, like everything he does. He didn't notice me coming in, or probably did but knew it was me, so I stepped behind him and wrapped my arms awkwardly around him so they were around his waist and my head on his back. He froze and dropped the knife he was holding. It was awkward, too awkward and not the way it was supposed to be. For starters, he had to look at me. I had to actually see his face to see his reaction, which was important and the whole point of it. Second, the position I was in at the moment was odd, his back was too stiff and just the whole moment was ruined but the embarrassment of it all.

"Parker, what are you doing?" he asked me, still not facing me, my head (strangely enough) was still resting on his broad back.

"I'm hugging you." I replied, though this hardly looked like a hug.

"Why?"

"Because I thought you needed one" I said. He grabbed both hands and took them from where they lay and turned around slowly to face me, holding them between his. He looked serious but not upset; he was as mildly confused as I was, for this was definitely not the way things were supposed to go. "Which, now that I think about it, you probably didn't…"

"You thought I needed a hug? Why?"

"Well, you're always sad or if you're not sad, you're angry. Hardison thought that maybe you needed some love and since I can't actually give you that love I thought a hug would be proper—was I wrong?" I asked him.

"Yes." he replied.

I knew it. I should have seen this. Of course Eliot was not the hugging type, I had seen Hardison trying to hug him and how he pushed him away every time he did it, of course he wouldn't like it if I did it, too. Why would he react different with me? "Okay, I'm sorry." I pulled my hands away from his and stepped away from him. I felt my face warm, my cheeks turning pink and I had the incredible need to run away. "I shouldn't have done it…"

"You didn't let me finish." Eliot said. "I said 'yes' to both things you said; you can hug me and yes, you can give me love. I'm most certain you can give love to anyone, and if I'm the one you give love to I would be the luckiest man…"

So I did do what I had planned to do; hug him. This time it was a proper hug, this time he was actually facing me and this time he hugged me back, wrapping his arms around my waist and I wrapped my own around his neck. It felt good, better than I thought, his body against my own made me feel warm inside and content, like I hadn't felt in a while. I surprised myself with the smile creeping on my lips and the small sigh that came out of my mouth. All of this was supposed to be about making Eliot happy, not the other way around; I hadn't noticed how much I needed this, too, until he pulled me a little bit closer to him.

What happened next was unplanned and unexpected. I pulled away, after a few minutes, but only long enough to drop a small kiss on his cheek and that was it. It was a way of saying goodbye, it didn't have another meaning. But apparently the universe and my brain had other plans, for the next minute I was dropping another kiss but this time on his lips.

I took two steps away the minute it happened, because that was NOT supposed to happen at all. No. This wasn't the thing I had in mind.

Eliot just stared at me for what seemed to be forever. I didn't know what to do next, I could have run but that would make me look like I regretted it, which I didn't. I could have said something, but my brain didn't seem to process words properly. I could have kissed him again, but I didn't know if he would be glad or angry for being too blunt. To say I was confused was an understatement. The understatement of the year, to be honest.

He seemed to have plans of his own then, because the next minute he was the one kissing me. Unlike the kiss – though very brief, it was still a kiss – we shared before, this one was more passionate. He was, and that was clear to me, pouring every single bit of passion he had into that one kiss. That kiss he was sharing with ME. And I did the same, though slightly caught off guard, I answered with equal amount of enthusiasm, again my arms wrapped around his neck (took the opportunity to play with the soft hair falling down his shoulder) and his around my waist.

We pulled away when air became a problem, both breathing heavily but still very wrapped around each other.

"I gotta say, this makes me happier than a hug." he told me, grinning.

"In that case, I should have done that before." I told him. "Or probably you should have done this before."

"I gotta ask, what makes you happy?" he asked me all of a sudden, though my mind was very clear about it.

"You." I replied. "You make me happy."

"You can have me then, I'm all yours."

Two weeks later I noticed Hardison's eyes on me, on us to be more specific, from across the room. Eliot had gone to the men's room, which gave Hardison the opportunity to approach me and question me like he wanted.

"Have you noticed Eliot has been smiling a lot lately?" he asked me.

"No, no, I haven't." I lied. Of course I had noticed.

"Did he get a girlfriend or somethin'?"

"I have no idea." Another lie.

"Is he having sex? Oh, he is, isn't he? Yes. Of course that must be it." he spoke.

"Probably." Of course I knew. Of course.

"Do you think we're ever gonna meet her?"

"Hardison—" I lift my head to look at him and smile. "You already have."

It took him almost twenty minutes to figure it out. He didn't say anything immediately but I did hear him whisper 'Nate owns me fifty bucks'.

The End!