Asher was relieved he had stopped himself before he promised the truth along with asking Elijah to run away with him. Of course Elijah couldn't. He had a life. Something to stay behind for. Long before he ever met Asher.
Asher did let himself entertain that idle fantasy of playing house with Elijah. It would surely be pleasant while it lasted, but Elijah was a tree with deep roots and Asher had the southern winds and the call of the wild.
He was so stupid.
"One if my old aliases pinged as active again. You never linked it to me so none of your people noticed," Asher explained instead of addressing the counter offer to his request. "I'm reasonably certain it's one of my old allies in particular and I need to take him down. I've a reputation to maintain and I don't want him mucking it up."
"Ash," Elijah murmured. He couldn't believe he had just fucked his little asshole boneless and he was already planning something illegal while wilfully ignoring Elijah's suggestion to come back and deal with all this through official channels.
"I'm serious," he tried again, knowing it would open him just as vulnerable as he'd seen Asher a moment ago. "Come back with me. I really want you to come back with me."
He leaned back to look into Asher's eyes, searching that same connection they had just a moment ago.
"You want me. I want you. Come back with me. Work through your release and after that we can go wherever you like. As long as it's not too far to keep in touch with Mike."
Asher avoided Elijah's gaze, not sure what he'd see in it. Not sure what Elijah would see in his.
"This isn't FBI jurisdiction, Eli. We're in a foreign country, he's not a US citizen. Your talents and connections are many, but they're limited, especially here."
If it would be so simple to just tell Elijah and have it taken care of, though Asher might not take the legal means even if it was possible. There was the chance that this identity would link to more, and he didn't want his life mapped out any more than he chose it to be.
"Tell me who it is and what are you planning," Elijah said, his tone soft and maybe even a little bit pleading. "I'm on your side. Let me help you."
He didn't want Asher to do anything that someone could drag back against him when the bureau would have to let go of him. He didn't want to see that hard yearned freedom to go waste.
"Ash..." he continued, reaching over to tilt Asher's chin up so he could look in his eyes.
"Deal," Elijah replied and there was a whole world of fondness behind that single word. This was a side of him that never walked into the bureau. He left it home, behind closed doors, hanging on the coat rack, waiting for him to come back. Asher had been privy to his home personality for quite a while now, though. Elijah was a hard working man but with unexpected depths to his affection. Agent Hayes was a cold eyed and calculating leader with nerves of steel and unyielding work ethic.
Those two sides of him rarely mixed. Except with Asher it seemed.
"We'll do this thing, quietly, and you come back with me and finish your contract with the bureau."
Asher grabbed Elijah suddenly, pulling the other man in for a searing kiss. It said everything he couldn't, how badly he wanted more than what they could have, how unfair life was for making them from two different worlds.
"He'll be going by Albert Fox right now - the weaselly fucker I mentioned before. Because that's what I went by. He's taking my business and my reputation and I don't give a shit if I'm not using it right now, I built it and it's mine."
Elijah hummed with gentle amusement into the searing kiss that he replied easily, readily, not quite with as much passion and aggression as Asher but eagerly, providing him a platform to perform on. Instead Elijah rolled his weight half atop of Asher, pushing him down into the mattress as he went.
They needed to get out of this bed or they'd be spending the rest of the day in it...
"I remember that alias," Elijah said with a small snort. "Not a whole lot of what you did under it surfaced. I was always sure that there was a lot more. How about we put that alias out of commission completely?" he asked while looking into Asher's eyes from right above him.
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no subject
Asher did let himself entertain that idle fantasy of playing house with Elijah. It would surely be pleasant while it lasted, but Elijah was a tree with deep roots and Asher had the southern winds and the call of the wild.
He was so stupid.
"One if my old aliases pinged as active again. You never linked it to me so none of your people noticed," Asher explained instead of addressing the counter offer to his request. "I'm reasonably certain it's one of my old allies in particular and I need to take him down. I've a reputation to maintain and I don't want him mucking it up."
no subject
"I'm serious," he tried again, knowing it would open him just as vulnerable as he'd seen Asher a moment ago. "Come back with me. I really want you to come back with me."
He leaned back to look into Asher's eyes, searching that same connection they had just a moment ago.
"You want me. I want you. Come back with me. Work through your release and after that we can go wherever you like. As long as it's not too far to keep in touch with Mike."
no subject
"This isn't FBI jurisdiction, Eli. We're in a foreign country, he's not a US citizen. Your talents and connections are many, but they're limited, especially here."
If it would be so simple to just tell Elijah and have it taken care of, though Asher might not take the legal means even if it was possible. There was the chance that this identity would link to more, and he didn't want his life mapped out any more than he chose it to be.
no subject
He didn't want Asher to do anything that someone could drag back against him when the bureau would have to let go of him. He didn't want to see that hard yearned freedom to go waste.
"Ash..." he continued, reaching over to tilt Asher's chin up so he could look in his eyes.
no subject
"I tell you and you'll stay and help me, then? Just for one job, before we go back to your world and your rules?"
no subject
Those two sides of him rarely mixed. Except with Asher it seemed.
"We'll do this thing, quietly, and you come back with me and finish your contract with the bureau."
no subject
"He'll be going by Albert Fox right now - the weaselly fucker I mentioned before. Because that's what I went by. He's taking my business and my reputation and I don't give a shit if I'm not using it right now, I built it and it's mine."
no subject
They needed to get out of this bed or they'd be spending the rest of the day in it...
"I remember that alias," Elijah said with a small snort. "Not a whole lot of what you did under it surfaced. I was always sure that there was a lot more. How about we put that alias out of commission completely?" he asked while looking into Asher's eyes from right above him.