A/N: Nyava is pronounced Ni-ah-va just so you guys know. Anyway I was watching The Scheherazade Job and I just had to write this down. I don't own Leverage :(
A day in prison
"They're making us do gym?" Nate muttered to himself
"You're new here?" The man next to him said. He had longish blonde hair and green eyes. Nate could tell the man was to skinny for his uniform by the way his belt was too tight.
"Yeah just got in a few hours ago. Had to go to the hospital" Nate frowned slightly at the thought
"Hospital? What'd you get in some gang fight?" The man laughed
"No I was shot." Nate stated simply. He wasn't about the tell some prisoner why.
"I'm Jimmy"
Nate paused slightly. "Nate"
There was a loud beep from the PA system and a mans voice came on. "Prisoners 130 through 170 go to the the gym immediately"
"Ughh" Nate groaned
Jimmy laughed. "What number are you?"
"170"
"Oh that just sucks for you" Jimmy laughed again
Nate grumbled and headed off to the gym. A group of guys with wet hair were coming out of what Nate suspected was the locker room.
"Line up In numerical order" A military like voice ordered. Nate made his way down to the farthest end where he saw 169, 168, etc. Next to him was a man about 6 foot 4, stocky build, black hair-Nate stopped and looked back at the man. He could've sworn his eyes were jade but when Nate looked again he saw they were black.
"We have a new addition to our lineup!" The man walked up in front of Nate. "His name is Nathan Ford. I'm Coach Slayzer"
"Hello Coach Slayzer"
"Shut up Ford!" Slayzer roared in his face. Nate frowned in confusion. "All of you on the floor! Give me 20 pushups!"
Nate and the other prisoners obliged quickly and they all stood back up.
"Ford are you chewing gum?"
"No" Nate said plainly, sticking his gum on the roof of his mouth
"Liar! Spit it out" Slayzer held out his hand. Nate sighed an put his gum in Slayzers had. He shot him a cold glare and threw it out.
"On you backs!"
They all got on their backs.
"Give me 5 30 second leg lifts" Slayzer barked
"Wait-what's a leg lift?" Nate asked prisoner 169
The man didn't respond but just raised his legs slightly off the ground. Nate got the hint and did the same. It hurt really bad and he let his feet down for a second when Slayzer wasn't looking. That was a mistake.
"Ford! No cheating. Get up here you lazy wimp"
Nate stumbled to his feet and walked over to Slayzer.
"We don't tolerate cheating 'ere. Now go run a mile on the treadmill. Shanel go with him, I don't want him cheating again" Slayzer halted at him
Prisoner 169 stood up and walked over to Nate, grabbed his arm roughly, and dragged him off.
"I can walk" Nate mumbled. Shanel ignored him and pushed him roughly into the next room.
"7 miles per hour, 5% incline, run a mile" Shanel ordered
"What's your first name?" Nate asked as he stared running
Shanel visibly twitched. "Nyava"
"Sounds like some illusionist name" Nate joked
Nyava just sighed and sat down on one of the exercise balls.
"You don't talk much"
"I don't like new people" Nyava gave him a cold smile
"I can tell"
"You better shut up. It wastes your breath while you're running" Nyava advised
~1 mile later...~
Nate was sweating and panting from all the running. He trudged off the treadmill and went for the water fountain.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Getting some water" Nate breathed heavily
"You have to ask Coach Slayzer"
"Are you serious?" Nate coughed; he couldn't feel his throat and every breath felt like swallowing fire. He did not run, or do anything physical for that matter. "You know what damn him I'm getting a drink."
"Don't say I didn't warn you" Nyava crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall. Nate bent down and took a long drink, savoring the relief it brought to his body.
"Ford! What do you think you're doing?" Coach Slayzer suddenly appeared
"I told him he couldn't drink any water without your permission" Nyava defended
"I'm sure you did Shanel" There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his voice
"Why do I need your permission to drink water?"
"Because this is like boot camp! It's to whip you into shape" Slayzer snapped
"This is a prison not a reformatory"
"Don't sass me Ford! That's the third time you have broken a rule today-"
"You're not gonna..." Nyava cut it
"Yes I am Shanel. Strip down to your boxers Ford" Slayzer barked
"Excuse me?" Nate hoped he had heard him wrong
"You heard me strip down to your boxers"
"Why?"
"Shut up and do it!" Slayzer yelled
Nate hesitantly started unbuttoning the shirt of his tan uniform.
"They never learn" Nyava smirked
"Good job Shenal" Slayzer winked and at the same time Nyava snapped. Something in Slayzers eyes changed and he turned to Nate. "Button your shirt up Ford and then you can go"
"Huh?"
Slayzer snapped impatiently, "I said button up your shirt and go to the main room"
"Um okay" Nate furrowed his brow and buttoned up his shirt and walked out of the room.
Nate turned to Nyava once they got into the main room. "I'm gonna go up to my bunk"
Nyava nodded and followed Nate up. They were bunking together since it was in prisoner order. Nyava pulled out a piece of paper, a pencil, and a metronome.
"Do you play chess?" Nate asked non-chalantly
"Don't talk to me" Nyava said coldly and started the metronome
"Well then" Nate grabbed his book and went up on the top bunk. He didn't even bother to open the book and just threw it to the side instead. His mind wandered to the kiss with Sophie, which had taken place about 6 hours ago. As much as Nate tried to lie to himself about it, it wasn't the first time he had kissed Sophie Devereaux. He also lied to himself about the fact that it had happened more then just once before. Nate knew he was lying to himself. And even he couldn't believe himself. It was in Paris, or was it Tuscany? Anyway, it was the first time he ever MET her and the kiss caught him off guard.
-Flashback-
"You're a very clever thief you know that?" Nate said as he circled her in the hotel living room. Sophie had a gun pointed at Nate, her face showed that she was hesitant to pull the trigger though.
"Please Mr. Ford, I have a name"
"Really!" It wasn't a question; more of a sarcastic exclamation.
Sophie smiled and dropped the gun to her side. She held out her hand and said in an honestly kind voice, "Sophie Devereaux"
"Not such a pleasure to meet you" Nate smiled and shook her hand
"Aww come on you know you love chasing me" Sophie gave him a cocky grin
"What makes you say that?"
"Every man loves chasing me" Sophie laughed
"So you think we're all the same?" Nate cocked his head to the side
"Mmm well considering the fact you're staring at my chest right now, I would say yes" Sophie gave him a knowing smile
"How dare you make that accusation!" Nate exclaimed in defense
"How dare you deny that!" Sophie stepped about one foot away from him
Nate couldn't help his eyes flick down before looking up at her again. "Where are the paintings?" Nate said roughly
"I wouldn't tell you in a million years" Sophie breathed
"Give me that" Nate ripped the gun from her loose grip
"Bastard" Sophie spat leaning in a bit closer
"Where are the paintings?" Nate demanded again
"I already said I'm not going to tell you" Sophie breathed against his lips
"I'm Nathan Ford and I will get those paintings" Nate hissed
"Mmm no you won't" Sophie smiled before pulling him into a rough kiss. Her tongue immediately pushed into his mouth, as if on instinct. Sophie moaned at the taste of his mouth but Nate pushed her away.
"Sophie!" Nate yelled since he couldn't think of anything better.
"You were so close and..." Sophie gave up on fighting
"You know I have a wife!"
Sophie didn't respond but just played with her fingers, avoiding his angry looks.
"Don't you ever do that again" Nate hissed before dropping the gun on the ground and walking out.
-End of flashback-
Nate hated what he had done to her but he probably would've hated himself more if he wouldn't have done it. Nate could count how many times she had kissed him and how many times he had kissed her. Sophie: 3 Nate: 1. The next time was another kind of a romantic thing were Nate sort of forgot about everything else. The third time was for a con he needed help with were he played a drunk guy and well let's just say there was a lot of tongue in that one. Suddenly Nate realized Nyava was staring at him.
"What?"
"Nothing" Nyava quickly hid back under the bed.
It didn't even register in Nates subconscious and he went back to thinking about their latest kiss. Everything was hazy since he had been shot. Unlike the other times Nate actually focused on her mouth and not the fact he was cheating. He noticed how her tongue explored his mouth, her smell, her taste, everything. In his mind he knew that their relationship would never be the same after it. They would both ignore it and pretend like it never happened and then suddenly something would happen. That's how it always works. Nate finally felt relaxed and drifted off to sleep.
~Later~
"Wake up!" Nyava snapped his fingers in Nates face
"What?" Nate grumbled
"We have to go eat breakfast now!"
"I'm working on it" Nate pushed himself off the bed and swung his legs over the side. He dropped down with a dull thud and followed Nyava. The place was packed with prisoners all waiting for food. He could pick out the CEOs and guys in gangs.
"Hey Nate!"
Nate turned around to see Jimmy waving to him. "Hey Jimmy"
"Whoa you're friends with Nyava?" jimmy said once he approached Nate
"Bunk mates. Not friends" Nyava corrected coldly and walked off with his tray of food. It was an omelet bar today, and Nate thought that was hardly prison like.
"He's weird like that. Some people he can talk to like he's known them all his life and some he is very cold too"
"He did that with Coach Slayzer yesterday" Nate remembered. "It was really strange too because suddenly he let me off the hook for running a mile"
"Like I said: weird!" Jimmy and Nate both left to go sit down
"Hey Nyava can we sit here?" Nate asked
"Make him go away" Nyava ordered
"Jimmy go away"
"Excuse me?" Jimmy narrowed his eyes
"Yeah go away. We can talk later" Nate gave him a warning look and Jimmy stomped off
"Oh and can you go get me a drink?"
"What do you want?" Nate asked obediently
"Unsweetened iced tea"
"I'll be right back then" Nate got up and went to go get his drink. Once he returned he saw Nyava had finished his food.
"Thanks" He took the glass and took a long drink
"So what'd you do before jail?" Nate asked
"Don't ask me that" Nyava ordered
"Okay"
"What'd you do before jail?" Nyava asked
"I led a group of thieves that steal from the rich and give to the poor. Before that I worked insurance and before that I was going to school to become a priest." Nate smiled
"From priest to thief? Wow" Nyava grinned
"I'm also a functioning alcoholic"
"Functioning?" Nyava raised an eyebrow at him
"Yeah it helps me think" Nate shrugged
"Uh huh"
"When can we talk to people like over the phones?"
"In about 3 hours" Nyava pointed to the clock.
"So are we friends?"
"Depends" Nyava swirled his drinks around with the straw
"On what?"
"Well I hypnotized you" Nyava said casually
"You hypnotized me?" Nate just gave him you-have-got-to-be-kidding me look
"Yeah why do you think you're doing everything I ask you to do?"
"You're a hypnotist?" Nate couldn't believe it
"Yeah why do you think I'm in jail? I got caught using it for something well...illegal." Nyava sighed
"Can you teach me?" Nate asked hopefully
"Why?" Nyavas face went cold
"I lead a team of thieves sometimes I need them to do stuff they can't or won't do" Nate said like it was the most obvious thing in the world
"Hmm well I suppose. But only because you don't hate me for hypnotizing you" Nyava jabbed his finger at Nate and got up. Nate slouched back in his chair with a satisfied smile and suddenly there was a loud beep on the PA system.
"Prisoners 170 through 210 report to the kitchen for dishwashing duty"
Nate groaned and walked to the kitchen to endure the prisons disgusting and grueling work.
THE END