"C'mon, man, you're always cooking, I want to help."
Eliot glared at Hardison. "You think jammie dodgers should be filled with blackberry jam and covered in chocolate, I'm not trusting you in a kitchen."
"First of all, rude," Hardison shot back. "Second of all, don't judge what you haven't tried. I'm not sitting here judging your fancy ass fermented soybeans, don't judge my delightful twist of the classics."
"Natto isn't fancy," Eliot retorted, even as he slid a chopping board, knife, and capsicum in front of Hardison, "it's Japanese. Dice that."
"Yes sir." Hardison gave a lazy salute, to which Eliot rolled his eyes, and picked up the knife to start chopping.
It was nice, working in a kitchen with someone else while not trying to get dishes out to expecting patrons. Even Parker coming in and perching on the kitchen counter to snack at the vegetables that Hardison chopped was nice. He may hate Victor Dubenich for screwing them all over and just being an iffy guy in general, but he was glad that the dick had gathered the members of Leverage together to form a team.
Dubenich regretted his actions, he was sure, but Eliot knew that if it wasn't for that first job, he wouldn't have spent the time to get to know Hardison and Parker, wouldn't have realised that actually these two dorks were people that belonged on his Protect Above All Else list and that he loved them. Who knew being an asshole could also make someone a matchmaker to rival Yente?
"You're thinking sappy thoughts," Parker interrupted, and Eliot turned his attention to her to stick out his tongue in a very mature move that he wouldn't have even thought of doing before he'd met her.
"Am not."
Hardison cackled. "You definitely were, Eliot! You had the sappy thoughts face on and everything."
Eliot threw a bit of capsicum at him. "Keep this up and you're not getting any dinner," he threatened.
"Parker will let me have some of her cereal, right Parker?"
Parker thought about it for a few seconds, drawing out the moment, before smiling brightly at Hardison. "Nope," she proclaimed. Before Hardison could bring out the pleading eyes, she leaned in close and whispered, "I'll just steal some dinner from Eliot for you."
Eliot threw up his hands in mock offense and exasperation. "Unbelievable," he muttered. "It's like I'm living with a bunch of thieves."