perhaps ‘i just want to go home’ from the prompt list + DoctorConductor if you would be so kind?
thank you for giving me a reason to actually write these boys. i’m so very sad because i know how this ends but also because oh my god leonard peabody made me cry not clickbait?
When his contract expired, Leopold never thought he'd see anyone from the Commission again.
That had been the deal, the rule, the terms of the agreement, so to speak. He gave ten years of his life, followed their orders, completed their missions, and now he was retired. He picked his anywhere, he picked his anywhen, and he had to learn to live with it. Which was rather hard when someone from that era of his life had turned up at his door, talking about one last mission, and begging him to return to the world of danger and death that they'd lived in together.
At first, before the discussion of missions and risking their lives, he'd actually been happy to see a familiar face. In the year since he'd been back, Leopold had been cleaning up the mess he'd left behind - he was juggling how to handle the ex he'd abandoned when he left in the first place, his father's frustration at him going missing for a few weeks, and the workload that he forgot about. It was supposed to be his retirement, running away was supposed to fix everything, but that was hard to accomplish when he was right back where he started.
But, as soon as none other than Leonard Peabody sauntered into his home and found a spot on the couch, relaxing and looking as if he belonged there, all of the stress from his day to day life completely disappeared. For the first time in far too long, it was just the two of them, and it was like no time had passed at all. His partner in crime was in front of him, the same smirk he always wore so familiar and real that it almost felt like an illusion.
"If I'd known you were rich, I would have come to visit sooner. Don't tell me, you have silk sheets, don't you? Fancy."
With a faint smile of his own, Leopold shook his head and poured himself a glass of scotch. Raising the bottle to offer some to his guest was a gesture, but an unnecessary one, and he knew it even before he asked the question. "Do you want any, or are you still avoiding alcohol like it'll kill you?"
"I'm still very sober, but thank you for offering, Mr. Manners." The teasing tone was something he was all too familiar with, one he heard plenty of over the decade they worked together. Between missions and the time they spent together between them, he'd grown all too familiar with every one of Leonard's tones, the good and the bad. "I'm surprised you haven't gone the same way. I assume, based on the year and the location you settled on, that father dearest is nearby?"
"You knew when I would choose before my contract was up. Yes, he lives in town, too, but not in this building, and not on this street. If you want private time with me, this is the best place to get it."
He shouldn't have said that. The private time together was what led to the discussion of one last mission, which led to an argument, which led to the bed with the silk sheets. They always did that. They yelled until their throats were sore, and then kissed and... made up. It was routine, even after all their time apart, and he didn't want to trade any of that for the world.
( it was later that night, when they were still in bed and tangled up in each other, that the topic of one last mission came up again. it wasn't a pleasant topic, and Leopold would have put a stop to it if he'd had the chance before more details of the arrangement were whispered into the dim quiet around them.
"I arranged a new contract, if you come back for this. for both of us. one more mission, and we're both done. we get to retire together. anywhere, anywhen. I'll leave the commission for good, too, and you won't have to deal with your dad anymore and we can have the life we talked about."
"Lenny..."
"don't. you don't have to make a decision right now. time travel, remember? I can stick around as long as you want me to, as long as it takes for me to convince you."
"you didn't want to leave. you didn't want to come when I offered you an out, and there didn't have to be one more mission. we could have our life right now, but you wanted to stay and work for them. I won't take you away from the place you've made your home."
"but they're not my home, Leo, they never were. you are. you're my home. I'm not dragging you back in to try to convince you to stay forever, I couldn't do that if I tried, but... what I'm getting from this new contract, it's worth so much more than just some retirement package."
taking a deep breath, Leopold slowly shook his head in the darkness, the light of the moon through the window barely enough to illuminate any part of his bed. but he could see the expression of the man next to him, the set of his jaw, his unkempt hair from how they'd spent their afternoon, the faint glimmer of something like pleading in his eyes.
"Leonard, I don't-"
"please...? all I want... I just want to go home..." )
[ injury sentence prompts ]