AN: Written as a fill for kayim's prompt at fic-promptly - Leverage, Eliot, He bakes to relax
Each member of the team had their own little quirks, with something that they went off to do to relax or help them think. They each had their own space, and would retreat there when things got too much for them, when the effort of being a team became too much, they were all used to working alone for the most part after all.
Hardison would hack into people's files for fun, or play online games to keep himself occupied and reduce stress, he could let off steam anywhere as long as he had a laptop with him. Parker would count money or pretty things, sit on a roof, hang from a building or go and scope out museum security. Nate would brood alone and have a drink or two to relax, and Sophie well she had her acting, it was a whole world of escapism for her.
Eliot had a few different ways of letting out stress, if he was angry and stressed he generally wanted to hit someone or something so he would head to a gym to work out, maybe have a few rounds in the boxing ring with whoever was about. Other times you would find him in the kitchen, where the rest of the team would congregate later once they had come back out of their own little worlds.
There was nothing more relaxing to Eliot when he was stressed or overwhelmed than to bake. The act of measuring out ingredients allowed him to slow down and focus on something that needed precision, combining those ingredients allowed him to work out some minor frustrations; beating eggs or whisking a cake were great stress relievers. It was something that took no real effort to him, it was stress free and allowed him to unwind.
At the end of the process there was always something tasty to eat, so even if he was still a bit stressed, the comfort food that he had baked helped. He was sure that was why everyone came back to the kitchen, there would be cake and they could come back together as a team again, talking about the things that had stressed them or working out the details of their next job.
