Give Me A Minute

Title: Give Me A Minute
Fandom: Leverage
Characters: Eliot Spencer; Nathan Ford
Rating: PG
Word Count: 394
Summary: Comment_fic prompt: Movie Quotes; Leverage; Eliot. “Some parts just take longer to wake up than others.” ~~ Electric Horseman

After wrapping up the details of their last case, Sophie left to have dinner with her mystery man, Eliot was cleaning the kitchen from the impromptu meal he’d prepared for the rest of them while Nate shooed Parker and Hardison out the door.

Seeing the kitchen set to rights and no sign of Eliot, Nate closed his condo down for the night and went to bed.

The smell of well blended coffee roused him from sleep. He quietly thanked Eliot for setting the coffeemaker before leaving the night before.

His heart nearly stopped when he wondered into the living room, and found Eliot asleep on his couch. Blue/grey eyes snapped open at Nate’s gasp of surprise.

“Eliot! I thought you left.” Nate scolded to hide his surprise.

“Had a headache. Just wanted to rest my eyes for a minute. Didn’t mean to still be here.” The hitter started working joints and muscles preparing to move off the couch.

Nate felt guilty over his surliness. Eliot had stepped between Hardison and a thug with a black jack, taking a hard hit across the shoulders. He looked down, frowning at how gingerly the younger man was moving.

“You said you were fine. Are you hurt worse than you thought? Do we need to get you to a doctor?” Nate started to move forward.

“Nate.” Eliot’s rasp and a hand held up to stop got Nate’s attention.

“Settle down. I am fine. Some parts just take longer to wake up than others.” Eliot finally stood continuing to stretch and limber up. “Be okay if I borrow your shower?” He scrubbed his hands through his hair.

“Sure. You probably already know where to find what you need.” Nate snarked as he inhaled his coffee.

The corner of Eliot’s mouth quirked into a smirk as he carefully moved up the spiral staircase.

Nate went back for a refill feeling guilty over his actions. For a man who specialized in seeing all the details of the big picture, he had a huge blind spot when it came to his team. Plus he was surprised Eliot had let him see his vulnerabilities.

A spot of warmth started in his chest at the thought of the hard shelled retrieval specialist letting Nate inside that shell. A small smile graced his face as he refilled his cup with Eliot’s excellent coffee.

~ Fini ~