Always Forward, an imposters fanfic

Imposters || Ezrard || Imposters || Always Forward || Imposters || Ezrard || Imposters

Title: Always Forward – Never Back

Fandom: Imposters

Warnings: m/m, hurt/comfort, fluff

Main Pairing: Richard/Ezra

Imposters Characters: Ezra Bloom, Richard Evans, Julia 'Jules' Langmore

Summary: On their trip to Seattle during season 1, Ezra has a realization as they are all asleep in a motel room. Maybe it was time to move forward for him.

Always Forward

Never Back

Ezra was wide-awake, one arm folded over his chest, eyes staring unblinkingly up at the ceiling.

They had scammed their way into this motel-room that was currently not actually rented out. Jules was snoring away on the couch in front of the bed, while Richard and Ezra shared the double-bed.

Biting his lip, Ezra slowly rolled over to face Richard. He folded one arm under his head and frowned as he watched the jock sleep. Richard was unfairly handsome. That was something that had bothered Ezra right from the start, but somehow things had... changed. Somehow?

No. Everything had changed. Everything had changed a lot. His wife had turned out to be a con artist, she took all of his money and all the respect he used to have for his father. He had lost everything, including his will to live. Until Richard had barged in.

Richard had barged into his life and turned it upside down again. Somehow, he had given Ezra a purpose again. Something to live for. Finding Ava, taking the bitch down. And even beyond that, there was now a sense of purpose again. There was fun in his life again.

Honestly, more fun than he ever had in his life before? Thing could compare to this adventure he has been sharing with Richard and Jules. He had never felt more alive before. The office job was nothing to what they were doing now. Every day was an adventure and yet it wasn't scary, because he knew he could trust and rely on Richard and Jules.

Jules was the big sister Ezra had always wanted. He would trade Josh against her every day of the week. No, seriously. Well, okay, the bar wasn't very high on that. He would trade Josh for a cat.

The one that confused Ezra, the one Ezra couldn't fully understand or explain, was Richard.

Okay, that wasn't really true. After all the lies in his life, Ezra really shouldn't lie to himself. What was the point of that, after all? He had always also liked boys. There had been some fooling around during high school and college, but somehow he had always pictured the endgame to be a beautiful wife – Ava – and a bunch of cute children, a white picket-fence and the American dream.

Now he was a con artist on the run, hunting another con artist, together with a loud artsy lesbian and a jock with no sense of boundaries. He had never found a friend like Jules. And Richard.

Richard was... stupidly handsome. To name one. He was and over the months of working and conning and living together, Ezra had grown frighteningly fond of Richard. All his stupid quirks, the way he spent two hours in the shower, kept talking about sports even though Ezra was hardly interested in that, how he kept forgetting the keys in the car (though they had by now learned how to pick the car door so Jules didn't have to throw a bowling ball through the window every time they forgot the damn keys). Over the course of traveling together, sharing a room and sometimes even a bed, or all three of them in a tangle of limbs sleeping in the car.

Ezra had a crush. Perhaps more than a crush, though he tried not to think about this. After the last time he had given away his heart, it had come back so battered and broken, he didn't know if he could ever trust anyone with it again. But if he could, then Richard was probably the best fit. No one would ever understand him the way Richard and Jules did. How much Ava-Maddie-Alice-CeCe had messed with their lives. Broke their hearts. Ruined everything. Richard understood the heartbreak and he would never do the same. He would never hurt Ezra like that. With Richard, Ezra knew exactly what he would get. Not that he would get it.

And that was the point that was keeping Ezra awake right now. They were in a motel, somewhere down the road on their way to Seattle. Ava-Maddie-Alice-CeCe was in Seattle. They would find her, get their money back and... and then? What would come next? That feeling was what kept him awake. Would they just part ways? Never see each other again? The thought broke his heart. He loved this life of theirs, as weird as it was. He wouldn't be able to just go back to working at Boom Boot & Heel and having regular work hours, an apartment, no... adventure. No Jules. No Richard.

"Why are you staring at me? Go to sleep", groaned Richard as he threw a pillow at him.

Ezra blushed but grabbed the pillow. "Nothing. Just... wondering about... stuff."

"Is too late for stuff", muttered Richard and ruffled his hair. "What stuff?"

"...What's gonna happen after we take Maddie down?", asked Ezra with a frown, hugging the pillow closer to his chest. "I mean. We get our money back. We... return to our... lives...?"

Richard frowned at that and silence fell between them for a long moment. "I don't know. I mean... haven't really... thought about it. Just... going back? After all this time...? Feels... weird..."

"Wrong?", asked Ezra, sounding only slightly hopeful, sighing relieved when Richard half-nodded and half-shrugged. "Like... the life we left behind won't be enough after all of this?"

"Kinda. I guess", replied Richard, still frowning. "But can we just... keep doing this?"

"Why not?", shrugged Ezra, growing more eager as he sat up. "I mean. We're a great team, right? If we perfect the code and get even more experience together, we could... we could pull this off. Just the three of us. Traveling together, getting money whenever we need it, however we want to."

"Yeah", nodded Richard, grinning as he too sat up. "Just... You and me. And... Jules. Yeah. We'd become the best! We would totally rock this. It'd be super cool."

"Yeah. Yeah, it would", nodded Ezra and bit his lips, subconsciously looking at Richard's lips.

"For fuck's sake, pretty boys, just kiss and shut up, I wanna sleep!", groaned Jules.

She threw a pillow at them, hitting Ezra in the face. Ezra blushed brightly at that. It wasn't the first joke along those lines that Jules had made. She particularly enjoyed digging in with Richard.

"I'm serious this time", huffed Jules as she stalked over to the bed to get her pillow back. "Kiss and shut up. Because if we're actually gonna do this, gonna keep doing this even post-Maddie, then I am so not traveling with the UST duo. Seriously. The only thing Richard talks about all day long is sex, yet he has stopped sleeping around weeks ago. Maybe because he wants more. Certainly not because he noticed the love-sick puppy-dog eyes. Now kiss. Shut up. Go back to sleep. We gotta leave before they come to clean the room and then we have to get back onto the road."

With that, Jules collapsed face-first on the couch and was back asleep. A thing that Ezra envied a lot. She could just fall asleep everywhere within moments. Taking a deep breath, Ezra turned toward Richard and stared at the surprisingly flustered jock. Wait, what?

"...Richard?", asked Ezra carefully. "I mean... Jules is probably right. We should probably clear the air before we... continue traveling, I guess? So. I kind of like you. It was a surprise for me too."

"Yeah?", whispered Richard with a small grin. "I kinda like you too. You're nerd-cute. Do... you wanna go out on a date... sometime? After we get the money from our ex."

Ezra laughed before he leaned in and they kissed. Maybe Maddie had been right with one thing. Always forward, never back. This was his – their – forward. And it was better than any back.

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: So I fell in love with this show. I LOVE con artists. Ever since I first watched "Leverage", I have fallen in love with the con artists concept. And they are SUCH A GREAT TEAM with such good dynamics.

And I totally ship Ezra and Richard. I am disappointed that there is literally NO fandom? At all? Like, not even the kind where you say "Daw, nothing for my ship", but like nothing-nothing. So. I of course had to write something. I always wanted to be the first person to post something for a fandom. :D

And this show is sooo great. Two more months and season 2. *^* Hopefully, it'll gain some fanbase by then? I need fics.