Work Text:
~.~
"You don't need to come, by the way."
Wraith looked from the bottle she was opening, two tall, half-full glasses in front of her. She raised an eyebrow in question as she turned one eye back on her task, pouring generous helpings of rum into the waiting mixers. She noted the awkward tint to his voice, but it took her a second to make the connection.
"To dinner, I mean."
Her stomach squirmed, but she pulled up a faint smile.
"If you need me to find an excuse, I can do that." she answered amiably, screwing the lid back on and setting the bottle aside.
Lifting the drinks, she turned to follow him, as he waited with the plates. She held the kitchen door open with her elbow as he passed, and he did the same with the lounge. He'd already dragged the coffee table closer to the couch, anticipating that neither of them could be bothered with the business of a dining table. Couch and TV was just fine, for it had been a long day and had worn them both thin.
"Thanks," he said as she handed him his glass, setting her food down, "crap, I left the soy sauce, hang on."
She settled cross-legged on the incredibly plush couch while she watched him dart back through, pushing the chicken on her plate to one side for later and spearing a green bean. He closed the door behind him as he came back in, reaching for the remote before he sat down. She smirked a little, guessing he'd done so to prevent her from choosing their entertainment, for there were only so many documentaries she could make him sit through before he needed something with more action.
He scrolled through movies on one of his subscriptions, humming absently to himself as he found and discarded options. She listened to him as she ate, the sound familiar and soothing, a signal of safety after their most recent two-day venture into the Arena. It had been long and arduous, starting with a sparse drop and dragging on with bad luck and little useable loot. The kind of Game that would, in her past, have made her want to head straight to her dorm, for the peace and silence of a darkened room.
It was becoming more and more apparent to her these days that she wanted that isolation less and less. If she let herself think about it, it got worrying, her want for company. It made her feel weak and exposed, especially when it took so little from Elliot to comfort her.
If she was completely truthful, these days she dreaded leaving the familiar welcome of his apartment. She'd never felt alone, before they'd gotten close. Or at least, she'd never found loneliness unpleasant.
She winced and swallowed down the reappearing guilt over the trouble her presence here kept causing him.
"… or I can just choose one, if you're tired."
She blinked, registering his voice, "What?"
His amused smile was warm, his eyes twinkling. He really was beautiful, like this. She shooed the thought away, feeling her face tingle, but it was too late. Guilt pricked her stomach like she'd swallowed pins, and she hated that she couldn't hide it from herself.
"The movie, I can't pick between these two..."
She forced her eyes to the screen on the wall, listening to him explain why he wanted each. He turned to her expectantly, and she indulged him; her face an elaborate mask of thoughtfulness before she shrugged and speared another green bean.
"Flip a coin," she decided, throwing him a glance, "and play whichever wins. Then the other, after."
"If we're still awake." he rolled his eyes at her unhelpful solution as he hunted for a coin.
"Yes." she grinned.
His faint groan made her snort, and he made a show of having to get up and cross the room to the dish where he'd dumped his wallet and keys when he got back from the takeaway place. She only shook her head at his antics when he turned narrowed eyes on her, a caricature of displeasure as he located and tossed a coin.
She merely blinked innocently as he returned, and he elbowed her as he finally sat down again.
"Just you keep eating." he complained, "Don't worry about me, I'm only solving our entertainment problem."
She said nothing, but grinned, and she watched as he finally relented when the winning movie started, his own mouth slipping into that easy smile she'd somehow grown so fond of.
"Why don't you want to go to dinner?"
Elliot's face turned her way, bemused when she asked nearly an hour later, setting aside her now empty plate. The room was darkened, the movie halfway done, and much of the stress she'd been carrying had already dissipated. In all honesty she was even sure she'd be able to sleep if she tried, chagrinned that she was unwilling to lose the time with him.
"At your mother's." she prompted, and watched in surprise as a fine pink touched his cheeks when he finally reached the same page.
"Oh. That."
She raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the couch on one arm, to better see him. He huffed a laugh at her pose, setting aside his own plate to mirror her. Coming about by accident, his own ridiculous attempt in their early friendship to mimic a relaxed 'tell-me-everything' pose, the two of them had somehow managed to adopt it.
When one took it up, it meant they were waiting for an answer. A real answer, or as close to one as the other could give. It had started in fun, he'd throw himself into it at some perceived inflection of juicy gossip, and would make her laugh to take the edge off whatever it was she was poorly hiding her discomfort about. Now she'd use it to make him tell embarrassing stories about his childhood, he'd use it to make her answer marginally embarrassing personal questions. Often it was fun, actually as relaxed as it looked, and involved a little bit of playful teasing. Or a lot of it.
Sometimes it had been more serious, but always it felt… safe. It was a time she could bare a little bit of her insecurities, and know that even if he chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows and made a passing, teasing comment, he was aware that it was something personal that she was sharing. It was something that belonged to them, and had helped Wraith along the path towards the realisation that Elliot was there for her. That she could trust him.
He lifted his eyebrows, blowing out a breath that ruffled his fringe. She smiled, and indicated she was listening. He laughed, the sound faintly self-conscious.
"She wants to meet you guys to check you out, basically."
"Check us out?"
"Yeah, you know…" His gaze sought the ceiling, the pink on his face deepening slightly, "make sure you're… okay."
"Okay how?" she huffed, amused.
Elliot dropped his gaze to her and gave her a dead-pan look that told her he knew her game. She merely blinked innocently, but didn't fight the tell-tale smirk leaking over her lips. Elliot shrugged, and dropped the last of his facade to answer her straight.
"I'm her youngest kid. She wants to be sure, for herself, that the two biggest people in my life are up to scratch."
He gave her a sheepish look, eyes soft and fond. Wraith found that her throat was growing tight as she looked back at him. All of a sudden, it felt like he was sitting incredibly close. She swallowed, and let out a nervous breath, eyes skittering to his shoulder.
"She wants to make sure we're trustworthy?" she surmised, not sure if that was what he meant, but needing to keep talking, to stop herself falling into her own head.
Elliot hummed.
"Yeah, basically. She just… wants to make sure I'm trusting the right people to keep me alive."
He gave a weak kind of chuckle, that faint discomfort that talking about the Apex Games often brought. Wraith looked at his face, watching it squirm to find the right emotion. Her heart gave a soft, familiar ache.
"I will," she said, pulling up a smile when he met her eye again, "keep you alive."
Elliot rolled his eyes with an embarrassed smile.
"I know," he said, skirting the serious turn their conversation could easily take, "and I'll return the favour."
He looked over as the werewolf in their movie made a particularly loud growl, and Wraith watched the flickering light dance across his profile. She would, she'd promised herself long ago now, keep him alive. Whatever the cost. For every kindness he'd ever offered her, every understanding he'd never needed explained. For every moment, in their time as squad, as friends, that he'd known when to reach out when she needed him, and for the bravery it had often taken when she didn't want him to.
It was the first time in her life that she could remember ever feeling like she'd choose the life of another over her own survival. The moment would be with her always, the memory seared into her brain, held there in safety as proof that she was human. That he had made her human.
"If it'll put her mind at rest," she offered quietly, "then it seems like a good idea."
He glanced back at her in surprise, his mouth slack before he covered it with a confused smile.
"I didn't think you'd want to go."
She looked away, almost turning back towards the television. She shrugged, and spoke to the coffee table when she found the words.
"It might be nice," she said carefully, "to meet her." her lips lifted in a curl, "Ask her how she suffered your sense of humour without killing you herself."
When he spluttered she breathed a huff, meeting his gaze again and playing coy.
"You know, just for some pointers."
Elliot shoved her and complained, and she couldn't help but laugh, filled with a small warm joy to see him look so pink, but so happy, under his bluster. She was sure she'd made the right choice, by the way his amber-brown eyes softened as he settled back against the sofa properly. She settled beside him, close enough to feel the warmth he exuded, with just an inch between them to keep her comfortable.
"Hey, Wraith?" he whispered a while later, as the movie neared its end and she was growing sleepy.
"Mhm?"
He reached out to touch her wrist, just for a second, gentle fingertips pressing softly into her skin before he released her.
"Thanks."
Wraith smiled softly and turned back to the screen in time to see one of the dwindling number of main characters being torn apart by the monster. She felt brave. She found the reply on her tongue and she kept hold of it until he reached forward for his drink, and took a sip.
"You can be the one to tell her Katie bailed because we're sleeping together."
He'd complain for days about the rum & coke droplets sprayed all over the contents of the coffee table, but Wraith's laugh was bright and gleeful, for it was worth it.
~.~