Rating: pg
Pairing: team!fic
Prompt/Prompter:nights when they aren't conning bad guys/Momma_66
Notes: The prompt had the extra condition that it should contain no dialouge.


Atypical Tuesday Night


It's a Tuesday night and the team is in between jobs. Nate had expected to have the night to himself, just him and his apartment.

It starts when Parker comes in through the window. Nate doesn't comment more than a raised eyebrow, it's not like it's the first time, and she just shrugs. Nate takes another sip of coffee, only half wondering why Parkers there, not enough to ask. She'll tell him so when she needs to and he's trying to hold onto the quite.

It wasn't long after Parker had sat down on a stair about halfway up and was starting to mess with a set of padlocks and picks that Eliot let himself into the apartment. He kicked the door closed behind him, holding up a grocery bag for Nate to see as explanation of why he was there.

Eliot liked to cook but not everything he wanted to cook could be made in single portions. Back in L.A. he'd bring it into the offices, but lately he'd taken to just cooking in Nate's place and leaving it there. He rarely spoke to Nate when he did, but Nate was fine with that. They both had a higher respect for silence than the rest of the team.

Hardison appeared not long later, stepping in and starting only a moment, sniffing the air and smiling in anticipation of whatever Eliot was making. He set down his computer, seemingly distracted from whatever he was coming by to do by the potential of food and drifted toward the kitchen. His hand came very close to touching something as he opened his mouth to make a comment.

A knife being driven point first into the cutting board a fraction of an inch away from his hand and a glare from Eliot was enough to both silence Hardison and send him skittering away. He went back to his computer and toward the TVs in a somewhat subdued silence, obviously not feeling like dealing with a "grumpy" cooking Eliot.

Nate read his paper, Parker played with her locks, Eliot cooked, Hardison did whatever it was Hardison did when he was on his computer, and the silence grew easy. No one spoke, no one needed to.

Eliot had worked his way through one dish and into the next when Sophie let herself in, her eyes downcast and posture tensed as much as she ever allowed. She turned and a look of surprise ran across her face, obviously startled that the entire team was there when it was so quiet.

Her eyes swept over the room again, really taking it in now and she seemed to relax a little. She walked over to sit beside Nate and looked around a little more, breathing and absorbing the peaceful air until Eliot tapped her shoulder. She turned and nodded her thanks when he handed her the book she'd asked to borrow from him a few days ago and then she settled down to read.

Nate finished his coffee and watched the slow movements of the team in the room. It was a Tuesday night, and they didn't have a job for once, and even if none of them would ever admit it maybe just maybe they'd all been lonely.