Of course Eliot would have the edge in a snowball fight. Speed, accuracy. Tactics. That was why they decided it would be the Eliot vs. the team. It didn't do much to even things up, though.
Hardison was getting the worst of it, each snowball landing with a burst of freezing cold wetness on him. And of course Eliot had dodged everything anyone had thrown at him. He also managed to establish a minor snow fort using a couple trees as a base, in which he had stockpiled a large supply of snowballs, perfectly packed so as to fly well but not hurt the recipient. Much. He had similar stashes at several other posts, and unleashed such a torrent of snowballs on whoever tried to use his supply that they had basically stopped trying.
Nate of course was not really participating. He was just standing there with his hands in his pockets, apparently waiting for someone to do something dumb enough that Nate could yell at them. Eliot couldn't help but throw one little snowball at Nate's chest, but at Nate's bored and annoyed look, he decided to focus on the hacker, thief, and grifter who were trying-and failing-to gain some ground in their snowball-fueled territory battle.
When Eliot's cell rang, however, he held up his hands. "Hey! This could be important! Time out! Nobody steal my snowballs!"
"Aw, Eliot's afraid we'll steal his balls," Parker giggled.
"Shut up! That means you, Parker! This is a time out! No cheating, no stealing!"
"You can't possibly be serious," Sophie said, "Who do you think you're talking to?"
"Relax," Nate said, surprising them all, "I'll ensure that nobody takes any of your arsenal. Okay, Eliot?"
Eliot nodded and left the honest man to watch over his snowball stash. He went inside to talk privately, and when he came out, he was pleased to see the other four standing and talking instead of destroying his piles of weapons - er, snowballs.
But then Nate smiled at him. And Eliot knew he was screwed.
"Nobody stole snowballs, right?" Eliot said.
"No, we actually added one to one of your piles," Nate said calmly.
"Okay...why?"
Nate nonchalantly explained, "One of your snowballs has a sharp rock right in the middle of it."
And Eliot immediately understood. He wouldn't be able to use any of the previously made snowballs except if he risked causing them serious harm.
But of course, they all knew which snowballs could be safely thrown. His arsenal was effectively theirs, now.
Eliot looked at Nate with an annoyed smile, respect creeping through despite his best efforts. "Guess you guys win this one," Eliot said reluctantly, "I can't believe I lost because of a false alarm phone call."
"Aww, now I feel sorry for Eliot," Parker said, "Here, El, you can have your advantage back."
And though Hardison tried to stop her in time, Parker grabbed the undercover snowball and lobbed it at Eliot's back.
"Hey!" he said, as the rock hit his bad shoulder with a hard thump. "Really, Parker? You wait 'til I stop playing, 'til I'm just standin' here talking with Nate, with my back turned, and then the one snowball that hits me today is that one? Really?"
Hardison, Sophie, and Nate looked at each other, and realized that Eliot had his old supply back in play and was now really pissed off.
Hardison yelled, "Good game, everyone," and dragged Parker into the house as fast as he could. From behind, he heard Eliot yelling something at Sophie and Nate. Something like "that girl's not right."
Written for the livejournal community comment_fic. Prompt was 'of course Eliot would have the advantage in a snowball fight'