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tamingthemuseTitle: Alec's Plunge
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Leverage
Characters/Pairing: Alec/Parker
Rating: G/K
Challenge/Prompt: #405: Plunge
Word Count: 1,136
Warnings: None
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.
He tried hard not to fall for her. He'd been accustomed to being alone since he was a child, after all. He worked best alone. He didn't need any one, or anything, really, other than his orange drink and a good computer. He liked Lucille, but he didn't even have to have her. There was no one he needed, and that was for the best.
He shouldn't need any one. The others didn't need him. The children at the home before hadn't needed him. His parents hadn't wanted him. No one had ever needed him, so he should need any one.
Of all people, she especially didn't need any one. Every one of them worked best alone, but especially Parker. No one could keep up with her. No one could match her, not for wildness or insanity, not for good lucks or courage. She was, after all, as Eliot had called her, ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.
She hadn't looked over her shoulder when they had parted. She hadn't paused or given him a final look. He had checked every camera in the vicinity to make sure, but the cold, hard truth was that she'd had no trouble walking away from him. Sophie had hesitated for Nate. Nate had almost stopped. Eliot had nearly looked back. But Parker had never hesitated. She'd kept going back to a world where she knew she'd be alone, back to a world she knew didn't include him.
Still, he'd looked for her. He'd searched the globe for any sign of where she might strike next or where he could find her. He'd hoped she leave a sign. Any sign, no matter how trivial, would have shown that she'd cared for him at least a little bit, that she'd missed him, that she'd liked him as a friend, if nothing more.
But thieves didn't need friends. Friends were liabilities. The more people who knew you, the more people knew what you did, and the more people could turn you in for a nice, healthy reward check or even just a lesser sentence for themselves. Thieves didn't need friends, or allies. What they needed was cold, hard cash, or jewels, or a computer from whence they could steal the world, but not friends, never friends.
He prayed. He prayed like he hadn't since he'd been a child. He prayed like his "Grandmama" had taught him. He prayed not just for himself and for guidance but, much more often and harder, he prayed for them to be safe and sound, for each of them to find what they most needed in the world. Most of all, he prayed for her. He prayed for her safety. He prayed she wouldn't get caught or, if she did, he'd be the one doing the catching.
He made a place for the team just in case they did come together again, and eventually, what he'd feared impossible did happen. They did come together again. She returned into his life. She seemed even brighter, wilder, and crazier the second time around, and again, he reminded himself of all the reasons he shouldn't fall for her, all the reasons doing so would be nothing but a dangerous disaster, all the reasons she didn't need him, all the reasons she wouldn't want him.
She'd want somebody more like Eliot, somebody strong, who could protect her and stop the law from grabbing her when they came after her. She'd want somebody who looked like him, somebody with great hair and a great body, not a geek like him who'd never worked out a day in his life. She'd want some one who could keep up with her, who could match her crazy pace and free fall with her. She'd want some one who was white. He had every excuse in the book why she wouldn't want him, and yet . . .
Yet, when she looked at him out of the corner of her wild and narrowed eyes, his heart still leapt with excited hope into his throat. When she smiled at him, it still fluttered, beating against his bones like a caged bird frantically flapping its wings and trying to be free. When she spoke of people being fiddly like locks, he hoped and prayed she was talking about herself and him.
He told himself all along he couldn't fall for Parker. He reminded himself daily of every reason why he shouldn't want or need her, why he was better off being alone, why he should be like the others and not want this makeshift team of theirs to become a family. And yet, he thanked God every day of his life that they were in it and that she hadn't left him yet.
He tried everything he knew. He tried to be hard. He tried to be cool. Later, he tried to impress her with his creations and failed, just like he knew he would. He fussed with her. He argued with her and himself. He reminded himself daily of every time she'd almost cost him his life and never ceased to be terrified when she threw him into a jump.
But plunging down into open air with her seemed to be something he could no more escape than he could hide from his feelings for the crazy blonde dangling beside him and laughing with glee. When he looked into her eyes, he could almost forget he was hanging twenty, perhaps more, stories off of the ground. He could almost forget all the reasons why he knew she wouldn't want him, why all the love he felt for her was only one-sided.
Then, one day, it happened. As inevitable as Parker pushing him off of buildings, as inevitable as them coming together again and again for more heists, as inevitable as their team slowly building into a family and thieves coming to trust each other, she finally made his dreams come true with a single kiss. That kiss finally shut up all of Alec's reasoning, and when she smiled at him, so shy and sly at the same time, he realized the truth: She wanted him as badly as he did her. She loved him, and all the time they'd been plunging, all the times he'd been so scared of falling for her instead of just with her, she'd been scared, too.
He smiled. She smiled, and he knew he finally had what he'd wanted all along: not just a family but the woman of his dreams. She screamed and fell further, and he knew Eliot was right. She was ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, but all of that craziness, all of that wonderful, all of that exuberant life and beauty was his. He'd never been happier or more in love.
The End
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Leverage
Characters/Pairing: Alec/Parker
Rating: G/K
Challenge/Prompt: #405: Plunge
Word Count: 1,136
Warnings: None
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author.
He tried hard not to fall for her. He'd been accustomed to being alone since he was a child, after all. He worked best alone. He didn't need any one, or anything, really, other than his orange drink and a good computer. He liked Lucille, but he didn't even have to have her. There was no one he needed, and that was for the best.
He shouldn't need any one. The others didn't need him. The children at the home before hadn't needed him. His parents hadn't wanted him. No one had ever needed him, so he should need any one.
Of all people, she especially didn't need any one. Every one of them worked best alone, but especially Parker. No one could keep up with her. No one could match her, not for wildness or insanity, not for good lucks or courage. She was, after all, as Eliot had called her, ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.
She hadn't looked over her shoulder when they had parted. She hadn't paused or given him a final look. He had checked every camera in the vicinity to make sure, but the cold, hard truth was that she'd had no trouble walking away from him. Sophie had hesitated for Nate. Nate had almost stopped. Eliot had nearly looked back. But Parker had never hesitated. She'd kept going back to a world where she knew she'd be alone, back to a world she knew didn't include him.
Still, he'd looked for her. He'd searched the globe for any sign of where she might strike next or where he could find her. He'd hoped she leave a sign. Any sign, no matter how trivial, would have shown that she'd cared for him at least a little bit, that she'd missed him, that she'd liked him as a friend, if nothing more.
But thieves didn't need friends. Friends were liabilities. The more people who knew you, the more people knew what you did, and the more people could turn you in for a nice, healthy reward check or even just a lesser sentence for themselves. Thieves didn't need friends, or allies. What they needed was cold, hard cash, or jewels, or a computer from whence they could steal the world, but not friends, never friends.
He prayed. He prayed like he hadn't since he'd been a child. He prayed like his "Grandmama" had taught him. He prayed not just for himself and for guidance but, much more often and harder, he prayed for them to be safe and sound, for each of them to find what they most needed in the world. Most of all, he prayed for her. He prayed for her safety. He prayed she wouldn't get caught or, if she did, he'd be the one doing the catching.
He made a place for the team just in case they did come together again, and eventually, what he'd feared impossible did happen. They did come together again. She returned into his life. She seemed even brighter, wilder, and crazier the second time around, and again, he reminded himself of all the reasons he shouldn't fall for her, all the reasons doing so would be nothing but a dangerous disaster, all the reasons she didn't need him, all the reasons she wouldn't want him.
She'd want somebody more like Eliot, somebody strong, who could protect her and stop the law from grabbing her when they came after her. She'd want somebody who looked like him, somebody with great hair and a great body, not a geek like him who'd never worked out a day in his life. She'd want some one who could keep up with her, who could match her crazy pace and free fall with her. She'd want some one who was white. He had every excuse in the book why she wouldn't want him, and yet . . .
Yet, when she looked at him out of the corner of her wild and narrowed eyes, his heart still leapt with excited hope into his throat. When she smiled at him, it still fluttered, beating against his bones like a caged bird frantically flapping its wings and trying to be free. When she spoke of people being fiddly like locks, he hoped and prayed she was talking about herself and him.
He told himself all along he couldn't fall for Parker. He reminded himself daily of every reason why he shouldn't want or need her, why he was better off being alone, why he should be like the others and not want this makeshift team of theirs to become a family. And yet, he thanked God every day of his life that they were in it and that she hadn't left him yet.
He tried everything he knew. He tried to be hard. He tried to be cool. Later, he tried to impress her with his creations and failed, just like he knew he would. He fussed with her. He argued with her and himself. He reminded himself daily of every time she'd almost cost him his life and never ceased to be terrified when she threw him into a jump.
But plunging down into open air with her seemed to be something he could no more escape than he could hide from his feelings for the crazy blonde dangling beside him and laughing with glee. When he looked into her eyes, he could almost forget he was hanging twenty, perhaps more, stories off of the ground. He could almost forget all the reasons why he knew she wouldn't want him, why all the love he felt for her was only one-sided.
Then, one day, it happened. As inevitable as Parker pushing him off of buildings, as inevitable as them coming together again and again for more heists, as inevitable as their team slowly building into a family and thieves coming to trust each other, she finally made his dreams come true with a single kiss. That kiss finally shut up all of Alec's reasoning, and when she smiled at him, so shy and sly at the same time, he realized the truth: She wanted him as badly as he did her. She loved him, and all the time they'd been plunging, all the times he'd been so scared of falling for her instead of just with her, she'd been scared, too.
He smiled. She smiled, and he knew he finally had what he'd wanted all along: not just a family but the woman of his dreams. She screamed and fell further, and he knew Eliot was right. She was ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, but all of that craziness, all of that wonderful, all of that exuberant life and beauty was his. He'd never been happier or more in love.
The End
