Fic: What a Diff'rence
Title: What a Diff'rence
Fandom: Leverage
Characters, Pairings: Nate, Eliot, Eliot/Parker
Word Count: 2,206
Rating: T
Summary: Nate asks but Eliot doesn't tell. Well, much.
Author's Notes: Takes place directly after If It Happened To You and... um... I'd like to apologize to Eliot for putting him through this... but then again he should have known that it was bound to happen :P Anyway, I think it's time someone makes Leverage available to mackenziesmomma because the quality and quantity of her snark increase with every story I send her. I think she should get some reward for that ;)
Also, language warning. Yes, again.
What a Diff’rence
“What a diff'rence a day made
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain.”
Dinah Washington, “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes”
Nate knows something, he’s sure of that. But then again, he wouldn’t be Nate if he didn’t know what went on between Parker and him last night. Also, it’s probably not that hard to guess. He did leave with Parker in tow, after all. Of course it wasn’t the first time he drove Parker home… but probably the first time she made an effort to stay close to him and he didn’t discourage her.
Instead he hadn’t been able to resist the little touches you use to comfort people, reassure them that things are gonna be okay. Brushing his fingers against hers, putting a hand on the small of her back while walking out the door, touching her shoulder shortly before the engine the engine… you name it. They hadn’t talked much on the way back to her place but he’d been content with it. That she was sitting beside him was enough.
He’d realized that the effect she had on him was far more multidimensional than he’d originally thought. Her presence doesn’t only arouse him or make him jittery - not all the time at least - it also… it calmed him down, knowing she’s still there, still talking to him. But yeah, during that ride… of course at some point the atmosphere had started to charge up again, with the tension he knew so well by then… “Hey, you nearly missed our exit.”
What the…? Damn, should concentrate on his driving again. For some reason he also feels compelled to growl, “Did not,” for good measure before he takes that damn exit.
Nate, though, throws him one of those looks you just don’t want your boss throwing you. He thinks it’s covert but of course there’s no way you could have overlooked that one. Even from the corners of his eyes, he can see that it’s a mixture between smug and worried, if that is even possible. Thankfully, Nate keeps all the crap he could have given him now to himself so he can concentrate on driving again.
Or he could if his mind didn’t think it a good idea to keep wandering back to last night. He’s still not quite sure how they actually ended up in her place - maybe he shouldn’t have asked her if she was hungry and suggested she eat some real food for a change knowing full well where that could lead - but what he does remember is that he just couldn’t get enough of that feeling of being close to her. The irony of that did not escape him, of course, but that was really no reason not to respond when she’d started to kiss him in that sorry excuse of a kitchen of hers.
He can’t help but allow himself a very, very small smile at that thought. Originally, he’d wanted to wait, hadn’t wanted to force himself on Parker… but Parker never had much regard for best-laid plans and had silenced him pretty fast when a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously much like Sophie’s had made him argue lamely - and kind of unwillingly - that she really didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do.
Turned out Parker knew very much what she wanted and she had wanted it right there, as soon as she could. Apparently… he’d affected her just the way she had affected him. A grin crosses his face and he needs to mask it with a look over his shoulder facing away from Nate because he’s pretty sure that Nate would notice that.
But damn, he’s got every reason to grin. The thing he liked most about Parker - that she is always straight forward - rings true in every aspect of her life and once he’d gotten over his initial albeit rather feeble determination not to ruin this by taking it too fast, he’d come to appreciate just how straight forward Parker can be.
He remembers her fingers running through his hair and sneaking under his shirt and tugging at his waistband… so vividly, in fact, that he has to grip the wheel a little tighter and clear his throat as discreetly as he can to remind himself that they’re on a job and most of all that Nate can be so damn perceptive when he wants to. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help much because jeez, the rough surface of the steering wheel reminds him of how soft Parker’s skin felt when he lifted up her shirt.
Smooth creamy-white skin, soft lips, long fingers in all the right places on his body… “Something on your mind, Eliot?”
“No, just in his pants.” What… she is so gonna pay for that. But yeah… he should have expected that. He really shouldn’t have thought he’d be safe just because she wasn’t in the car with them. Dammit, he knows how unpredictable Parker is and how uncanny she can be. Also… her voice, directly in his ear, saying things like that, with a hint of smugness to her tone? Not helping.
Oh hey, but at least it made Nate nearly choke. “And how would you know that, huh?” Yeah, of course Hardison would pick up on that.
He’s about to snap something back because as much trouble as there is between Hardison and him, he likes the hacker enough that he doesn’t want him to learn of the… shift in the relationship between Parker and him that way but Nate’s faster. “Cut the chatter, kids, we’re still on a job here. Hardison, I want you to keep tracking the money transfers. And Parker, lay low. They know your face and we really don’t want another gun to your head, do we?” He certainly doesn’t. God, he still shudders at that image and that… scares him a little.
But what scares him more is that after Hardison and Parker acknowledge - Parker with that particular undertone that tells him she’s not happy and she’s burning for getting back at the goons so he silently promises her he’ll try to beat them up in front of security cameras when he gets to them so she can see it - Nate suddenly takes the ear bug out and carefully wraps it in a piece of cloth… and motions him to take out his ear bug as well. He’s tempted to just ignore the gesture but Nate has this look on his face that says pretty clearly that you shouldn’t mess with him.
Alright, he thinks, here we go and grudgingly gives his ear bug to Nate. He puts it away as carefully as his own and then asks almost casually, “So… was it worth it?” Worth what, he almost asks back but that would have been pointless. He knows exactly what Nate means. Worth… worth the very possible trouble this could cause for the team. Worth alienating Hardison. Worth possibly screwing it up with Parker as well.
For a moment, he allows himself to think back to last night again. It had been rushed, heated, raw… and oh so good. Parker is as flexible in bed as she is when dodging laser beams. But there are a few things… apparently no one ever told her. For example that not all men left the moment they were done with the action. She’d seemed genuinely astonished at the whole idea of passing the whole night together but once he’d made clear he certainly would not leave she’d been quite taken by the whole thing. He smiles again and then decides to leave it at, “Gentleman don’t kiss and tell, Nate.”
“Right,” is all Nate says at first and it does sound like he’s in a bit of a huff… but he also knows him well enough by now to know prying any further is no use anyway. But of course that’s not the last word on it so it doesn’t really surprise him when Nate speaks up again. “You know,” he says, sounding casual again but with a kind of cautioning undertone, “if you hurt her, you’re a dead man. And I won’t even have to lift a finger.”
Oh. Okay… he’d had fleetingly wondered what Nate would say to this but he hadn’t really counted on Nate caring so much for Parker to resort to actually threatening him. It does disturb him a little so he can’t help but be a little glib. “I’m sure of that.”
He hopes that the matter is settled with that but Nate doesn’t do him the favor. Instead he just goes on in the same tone as before, “Seriously, Sophie would have your hide and I’d let her.”
Now he has to roll his eyes and an irritated note creeps into his voice. “Yeah, I get it.” He really does. In fact… suddenly he can imagine pretty vividly what Sophie might have to say about it all and dammit, is that a blush he feels creeping on?
So maybe now Nate will let it… “I mean it. I want you to be careful with Parker. She may not look like it but…”
Alright, that’s enough. “I know. You ain’t the only one who cares about her, Nate.” Whoa. It wasn’t supposed to come out with that much of conviction. It scares him a little and a short look to his right tells him that it also surprised Nate.
After a moment that can only be described as ‘shocked second’, Nate clears his throat and then tries to get back into his conversationalist tone, “Just saying, you know…” but there’s still lingering bewilderment in his voice. He can’t help but be a little amused at that. It’s certainly better than wondering about why he just told Nate quite forcefully about caring for Parker. Well, or thinking about last night… no, there it is again.
God, he can’t get enough of the sight of Parker on top of him, taking matters into her hands - so to speak - and being… amazing, in more than one way. Now he almost regrets they didn’t actually talk about it, at least the morning after. But Nate had woken them up by calling with a new plan and had wanted to see them ASAP and somehow talking hadn't been on their agenda until now.
Unfortunately, now that he has time to think… he realizes Nate’s concern doesn’t lie only with Parker but also with the team and the effect this might have on all of them. Yeah, great… he should have thought of that before he had Parker on her kitchen table. Well, and in her bedroom. And… no, better not go there now. He sighs, “Look, it’ll be fine. One way or the other, it’ll be fine.”
Of course, he’d rather have it one way than the other… whatever that might mean. Dammit, even when she’s not there, she’s messing with his head. He starts to realize that when he surrendered to her yesterday, he had done more than just scratch an itch. Jesus, this is going to become so much more complicated now. Thank God years of being on his own helped him to acquire a fairly good poker face. Apparently it worked since Nate simply replies, “Yeah, it better.”
Hopefully… this will be the end of it because he can’t afford losing concentration any more and it’s difficult enough with events from last night replaying in his head in the most unsuitable moments because they always make him want to simply turn around, throw the job to the wind and explore this interesting new turn in his relationship with Parker further. However, Nate still has one more thing to add, “Oh, and when you tell Hardison about it… don’t be an ass. Both of you, actually.”
Okay, it’s really time he puts an end to that conversation so he frowns and nearly growls, “Yeah, ‘course. We aren’t complete idiots. Now, give me back that ear bug. I’m pretty sure Hardison’s all over the place because he couldn’t reach us for five precious minutes.” Or because Parker just went and told Hardison how exactly she acquired the knowledge of what’s going on in his pants but he’s pretty sure Nate knows that well enough himself.
At least his face tells him so and so they’re both just a little bit relieved when all they hear when putting back the ear bugs is a stream of obscenities from Hardison who tells them what exactly will await them if they ever just go off the grid without telling him again. Could have gone worse and while Nate works on calming down the hacker, he can’t help but smile a little when Parker throws in one of those dry off-handed comments.
Yeah… next time, he thinks, next time he’ll show her that sometimes slow and elaborate isn't so bad after all. And maybe next time he won’t chicken out and tell her the main reason he stayed was that sometimes even he got damn tired and he needed a place to crash anyway. Maybe next time… he won’t feel the need to find a stupid excuse to stay and just… do it.
~*~
TBC in You Amaze Me.
Fandom: Leverage
Characters, Pairings: Nate, Eliot, Eliot/Parker
Word Count: 2,206
Rating: T
Summary: Nate asks but Eliot doesn't tell. Well, much.
Author's Notes: Takes place directly after If It Happened To You and... um... I'd like to apologize to Eliot for putting him through this... but then again he should have known that it was bound to happen :P Anyway, I think it's time someone makes Leverage available to mackenziesmomma because the quality and quantity of her snark increase with every story I send her. I think she should get some reward for that ;)
Also, language warning. Yes, again.
What a Diff’rence
“What a diff'rence a day made
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain.”
Dinah Washington, “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes”
Nate knows something, he’s sure of that. But then again, he wouldn’t be Nate if he didn’t know what went on between Parker and him last night. Also, it’s probably not that hard to guess. He did leave with Parker in tow, after all. Of course it wasn’t the first time he drove Parker home… but probably the first time she made an effort to stay close to him and he didn’t discourage her.
Instead he hadn’t been able to resist the little touches you use to comfort people, reassure them that things are gonna be okay. Brushing his fingers against hers, putting a hand on the small of her back while walking out the door, touching her shoulder shortly before the engine the engine… you name it. They hadn’t talked much on the way back to her place but he’d been content with it. That she was sitting beside him was enough.
He’d realized that the effect she had on him was far more multidimensional than he’d originally thought. Her presence doesn’t only arouse him or make him jittery - not all the time at least - it also… it calmed him down, knowing she’s still there, still talking to him. But yeah, during that ride… of course at some point the atmosphere had started to charge up again, with the tension he knew so well by then… “Hey, you nearly missed our exit.”
What the…? Damn, should concentrate on his driving again. For some reason he also feels compelled to growl, “Did not,” for good measure before he takes that damn exit.
Nate, though, throws him one of those looks you just don’t want your boss throwing you. He thinks it’s covert but of course there’s no way you could have overlooked that one. Even from the corners of his eyes, he can see that it’s a mixture between smug and worried, if that is even possible. Thankfully, Nate keeps all the crap he could have given him now to himself so he can concentrate on driving again.
Or he could if his mind didn’t think it a good idea to keep wandering back to last night. He’s still not quite sure how they actually ended up in her place - maybe he shouldn’t have asked her if she was hungry and suggested she eat some real food for a change knowing full well where that could lead - but what he does remember is that he just couldn’t get enough of that feeling of being close to her. The irony of that did not escape him, of course, but that was really no reason not to respond when she’d started to kiss him in that sorry excuse of a kitchen of hers.
He can’t help but allow himself a very, very small smile at that thought. Originally, he’d wanted to wait, hadn’t wanted to force himself on Parker… but Parker never had much regard for best-laid plans and had silenced him pretty fast when a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously much like Sophie’s had made him argue lamely - and kind of unwillingly - that she really didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do.
Turned out Parker knew very much what she wanted and she had wanted it right there, as soon as she could. Apparently… he’d affected her just the way she had affected him. A grin crosses his face and he needs to mask it with a look over his shoulder facing away from Nate because he’s pretty sure that Nate would notice that.
But damn, he’s got every reason to grin. The thing he liked most about Parker - that she is always straight forward - rings true in every aspect of her life and once he’d gotten over his initial albeit rather feeble determination not to ruin this by taking it too fast, he’d come to appreciate just how straight forward Parker can be.
He remembers her fingers running through his hair and sneaking under his shirt and tugging at his waistband… so vividly, in fact, that he has to grip the wheel a little tighter and clear his throat as discreetly as he can to remind himself that they’re on a job and most of all that Nate can be so damn perceptive when he wants to. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help much because jeez, the rough surface of the steering wheel reminds him of how soft Parker’s skin felt when he lifted up her shirt.
Smooth creamy-white skin, soft lips, long fingers in all the right places on his body… “Something on your mind, Eliot?”
“No, just in his pants.” What… she is so gonna pay for that. But yeah… he should have expected that. He really shouldn’t have thought he’d be safe just because she wasn’t in the car with them. Dammit, he knows how unpredictable Parker is and how uncanny she can be. Also… her voice, directly in his ear, saying things like that, with a hint of smugness to her tone? Not helping.
Oh hey, but at least it made Nate nearly choke. “And how would you know that, huh?” Yeah, of course Hardison would pick up on that.
He’s about to snap something back because as much trouble as there is between Hardison and him, he likes the hacker enough that he doesn’t want him to learn of the… shift in the relationship between Parker and him that way but Nate’s faster. “Cut the chatter, kids, we’re still on a job here. Hardison, I want you to keep tracking the money transfers. And Parker, lay low. They know your face and we really don’t want another gun to your head, do we?” He certainly doesn’t. God, he still shudders at that image and that… scares him a little.
But what scares him more is that after Hardison and Parker acknowledge - Parker with that particular undertone that tells him she’s not happy and she’s burning for getting back at the goons so he silently promises her he’ll try to beat them up in front of security cameras when he gets to them so she can see it - Nate suddenly takes the ear bug out and carefully wraps it in a piece of cloth… and motions him to take out his ear bug as well. He’s tempted to just ignore the gesture but Nate has this look on his face that says pretty clearly that you shouldn’t mess with him.
Alright, he thinks, here we go and grudgingly gives his ear bug to Nate. He puts it away as carefully as his own and then asks almost casually, “So… was it worth it?” Worth what, he almost asks back but that would have been pointless. He knows exactly what Nate means. Worth… worth the very possible trouble this could cause for the team. Worth alienating Hardison. Worth possibly screwing it up with Parker as well.
For a moment, he allows himself to think back to last night again. It had been rushed, heated, raw… and oh so good. Parker is as flexible in bed as she is when dodging laser beams. But there are a few things… apparently no one ever told her. For example that not all men left the moment they were done with the action. She’d seemed genuinely astonished at the whole idea of passing the whole night together but once he’d made clear he certainly would not leave she’d been quite taken by the whole thing. He smiles again and then decides to leave it at, “Gentleman don’t kiss and tell, Nate.”
“Right,” is all Nate says at first and it does sound like he’s in a bit of a huff… but he also knows him well enough by now to know prying any further is no use anyway. But of course that’s not the last word on it so it doesn’t really surprise him when Nate speaks up again. “You know,” he says, sounding casual again but with a kind of cautioning undertone, “if you hurt her, you’re a dead man. And I won’t even have to lift a finger.”
Oh. Okay… he’d had fleetingly wondered what Nate would say to this but he hadn’t really counted on Nate caring so much for Parker to resort to actually threatening him. It does disturb him a little so he can’t help but be a little glib. “I’m sure of that.”
He hopes that the matter is settled with that but Nate doesn’t do him the favor. Instead he just goes on in the same tone as before, “Seriously, Sophie would have your hide and I’d let her.”
Now he has to roll his eyes and an irritated note creeps into his voice. “Yeah, I get it.” He really does. In fact… suddenly he can imagine pretty vividly what Sophie might have to say about it all and dammit, is that a blush he feels creeping on?
So maybe now Nate will let it… “I mean it. I want you to be careful with Parker. She may not look like it but…”
Alright, that’s enough. “I know. You ain’t the only one who cares about her, Nate.” Whoa. It wasn’t supposed to come out with that much of conviction. It scares him a little and a short look to his right tells him that it also surprised Nate.
After a moment that can only be described as ‘shocked second’, Nate clears his throat and then tries to get back into his conversationalist tone, “Just saying, you know…” but there’s still lingering bewilderment in his voice. He can’t help but be a little amused at that. It’s certainly better than wondering about why he just told Nate quite forcefully about caring for Parker. Well, or thinking about last night… no, there it is again.
God, he can’t get enough of the sight of Parker on top of him, taking matters into her hands - so to speak - and being… amazing, in more than one way. Now he almost regrets they didn’t actually talk about it, at least the morning after. But Nate had woken them up by calling with a new plan and had wanted to see them ASAP and somehow talking hadn't been on their agenda until now.
Unfortunately, now that he has time to think… he realizes Nate’s concern doesn’t lie only with Parker but also with the team and the effect this might have on all of them. Yeah, great… he should have thought of that before he had Parker on her kitchen table. Well, and in her bedroom. And… no, better not go there now. He sighs, “Look, it’ll be fine. One way or the other, it’ll be fine.”
Of course, he’d rather have it one way than the other… whatever that might mean. Dammit, even when she’s not there, she’s messing with his head. He starts to realize that when he surrendered to her yesterday, he had done more than just scratch an itch. Jesus, this is going to become so much more complicated now. Thank God years of being on his own helped him to acquire a fairly good poker face. Apparently it worked since Nate simply replies, “Yeah, it better.”
Hopefully… this will be the end of it because he can’t afford losing concentration any more and it’s difficult enough with events from last night replaying in his head in the most unsuitable moments because they always make him want to simply turn around, throw the job to the wind and explore this interesting new turn in his relationship with Parker further. However, Nate still has one more thing to add, “Oh, and when you tell Hardison about it… don’t be an ass. Both of you, actually.”
Okay, it’s really time he puts an end to that conversation so he frowns and nearly growls, “Yeah, ‘course. We aren’t complete idiots. Now, give me back that ear bug. I’m pretty sure Hardison’s all over the place because he couldn’t reach us for five precious minutes.” Or because Parker just went and told Hardison how exactly she acquired the knowledge of what’s going on in his pants but he’s pretty sure Nate knows that well enough himself.
At least his face tells him so and so they’re both just a little bit relieved when all they hear when putting back the ear bugs is a stream of obscenities from Hardison who tells them what exactly will await them if they ever just go off the grid without telling him again. Could have gone worse and while Nate works on calming down the hacker, he can’t help but smile a little when Parker throws in one of those dry off-handed comments.
Yeah… next time, he thinks, next time he’ll show her that sometimes slow and elaborate isn't so bad after all. And maybe next time he won’t chicken out and tell her the main reason he stayed was that sometimes even he got damn tired and he needed a place to crash anyway. Maybe next time… he won’t feel the need to find a stupid excuse to stay and just… do it.
~*~
TBC in You Amaze Me.