Evie’s eyes go impossibly wide.
Elliot ends up signing a piece of paper in a coloring book with a purple crayon, then takes a picture with her, crouches down beside her and talks to her for a few more minutes before he excuses himself and goes to his gate.
He gets on the plane without any issues and it looks like they won’t change the departure time again. He falls asleep as soon as they’ve taken off and doesn’t wake up until the announcement that they’ll be landing soon.
His suitcase is already waiting for him at baggage claim and for once he doesn’t regret wasting money on priority access, because that means that he’ll see Blake faster.
Blake is already waiting for him and seeing him is akin to walking into a wall. Which is ridiculous. He knows what Blake looks like. Since he won the Cup, pictures of him have been everywhere. He literally saw him on TV a few days ago. But now he’s right there in very tight jeans and a very tight black shirt, with his hair in a bun, and then there’s the eyes and the tattoos and it’s… a lot.
He waves when he sees Elliot and Elliot waves back at him and then they’re next to each other and Elliot doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know if he should hug him or even touch him at all.
Blake saves him, pats his back and says, “Follow me.”
Blake is an insanely good driver. Both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, using his turn signal. Which is great. Except Elliot is pretty much dying in the passenger seat, the sun burning down outside, the air conditioning doing very little to cool things down.
“Do you need both your hands?” Elliot asks.
Blake snorts. “What?”
“Can I borrow one?” Elliot asks, which is, admittedly, a very strange way of asking someone to hold your hand, but Blake doesn’t comment on it, just takes one hand off the wheel and holds it out to Elliot, and Elliot takes it with both his hands, lacing their fingers together.
Elliot gives the hand back when Blake needs to do a little more steering and Blake asks about his flight, asks him what he wants for dinner, if he wants to stop at the grocery store to buy any food and Elliot waves him off. They can order food.
“Are you tired?”
“No, I slept on the plane. I just spent a lot of time at the airport today,” Elliot says. He was supposed to be here over two hours ago. “I’m glad I’m here now. There’s been lots of stuff going on.”
“I’m sorry about Adam.”
Elliot sighs. “It’s a business.” He’s been telling himself that. It’s a business and there’s nothing anyone could have done. The Ravens are going to start the new season with a completely different team, only a handful of players left from last season. Something had to change, but Elliot wishes they could have at least kept Adam.
The Ravens probably aren’t done making moves either.
Blake reaches over to put his hand on Elliot’s thigh, squeezes, then quickly pulls it away again.
Elliot is about to complain and tell him that he could have left it there, because he didn’t mind at all and kind of wants it back, but then Blake turns right into a resident parking garage and Elliot realizes that they’ve made it to Blake’s place.
Blake parks in his spot, then gets Elliot’s suitcase for him and grumbles at him when he tries to take it. Elliot follows him into the elevator, suitcase between them, Elliot’s eyes fixed on Blake’s hand, curled around the handle, his own hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants. There’s probably a security camera in the elevator and that’s the only thing keeping Elliot from shoving that suitcase out of the way.
It takes Blake about a hundred years to unlock the door to his apartment, a hundred years in which Elliot hovers next to him, shifting his weight as he waits for Blake to fit his damn key into the damn lock.
The door opens and Angus and Squid are waiting a few feet into the hallway, eyeing Elliot with suspicion.
“Hey, Angus,” Blake says and grabs him, “your best friend is here.”
Elliot is handed a displeased cat, which means his plan to push Blake against a wall and kiss him senseless is out the window. Angus purrs when Elliot hugs him against his chest, eyes on Blake, who’s closed the door but hasn’t moved otherwise.
“Hey,” Blake says.
Gently, Elliot sets down Angus. He still wants to get his hands on Blake, but they’re clearly not doing that right now. “Hey,” Elliot says.
Blake nods at Elliot’s suitcase. “Do you want to sleep here? Or I can drive you to your place later.”
Elliot can’t help but smile, because Blake has told him several times that the world would have to be ending for him to voluntarily drive to Manhattan. “I’ll stay.”
“Okay.” Blake nods again. “Where do you want to sleep?”
“Uh…”
“I have a guest room,” Blake says. “If you want it. Or–”
Elliot’s had enough of this. Blake knows where he wants to sleep. Blake knows where he wants him, too, he’s just talking his way around it for some reason. Elliot steps closer and kisses him, because that’s what he’s here for. That’s why Blake asked him to come. They’re not going to spend the entire week in this apartment, but it’s the only place where they can do this, so he’s not losing any more time.
Blake makes a surprised sound when Elliot’s lips meet his. Elliot isn’t gentle about it, not when he’s spent days thinking about this, distracted, daydreaming, his mom shaking
