Prompt: First Date
Quinn walked into John McRory's Place.
If it wasn't for his distinctive smirk or how he kept one hand hovering near a pocket, a clear indication there wasn't a pocket there, just quick access to the knife Quinn probably had strapped around his thigh, Eliot would've mistaken him for a house painter on lunch.
The paint splattered cargo pants and sleeveless Alabama Blazers shirt honestly surprised Eliot, he thought the other hitter's wardrobe only consisted of suits. Quinn had a reputation of being professionally stylish at all times. Though the white compression bandage around his chest matched the one Eliot wore under his own button up shirt.
It'd been four months since they fought, but Eliot knew it was better to be overly paranoid when it came to caring for broken ribs. Most days it was tender, the pain slowly fading away, and eventually he'd wake up without the ache.
What struck Eliot as the strangest part of it all was the cereal box the other hitter carried.
"Mr. Ford." Quinn said as he took a seat at the bar a few spaces down from Nate. "Not on the clock."
Nate raised his glass in an absent sort of salute before turning his attention away again.
"Hey, Eliot, isn't that the guy who-," Hardison looked between the two.
"Not now, Hardison," Eliot warned. He tried to figure out why Quinn was in the bar if it wasn't for business. The man ordered an iced tea, took a sip of it, and winced before taking a sugar shaker to tweak the sweetness.
"Like he went full on Vegeta on you before you Goku'ed his ass," the hacker kept talking.
"Dammit, Hardison!" Eliot hissed when Quinn looked over at them.
"Eliot Spencer." Quinn said. He smirked like Eliot hadn't handed his ass to him. "How are the ribs, pal?"
"Healing. What are you doing here, Quinn?" Eliot asked.
"Waiting for my date," Quinn answered. He was being intentionally vague, then again McRory's seemed to be a neutral meeting ground for all sorts of people. But it still didn't answer why Quinn was really in Boston.
It couldn't just be for a date Eliot thought.
Then again, it all depended on the woman. Eliot knew a few women he'd show up for in far flung cities if they crooked their finger at him.
"How long have you been in Boston?" Was Eliot's next question.
"About three hours and forty six minutes."
Quinn was a hard man to keep track of. Eliot tried once only found after several day's worth of work the number to Quinn's answering service. The message was nothing more than a robotic voice telling the caller to leave their name, number, and purpose for calling.
"And how did you meet your lady fair?" Sophie appeared in a swirl of elegance and Guerlain, taking a seat next to the other hitter like it was the most natural and safest thing for her to do. "Hello, Mr. Quinn."
"Ma'am," Quinn said, inclining his head. "I decided to take an easy job a month after Spencer over there busted my rib, turned out to not be so easy. She saw the job falling apart before anyone, so I followed her out of it."
It struck Eliot how Quinn gave away information usually kept close to the vest, especially relating to a failed job.
"She must be quite the lady then," Sophie scanned the bar, Eliot watched her examine then discard every woman she set her eyes on.
He saw when Quinn straightened his back, turning his head slightly towards the door to upstairs as it opened, but not enough to lose sight of Eliot. Old habits and all that he supposed.
It knocked him nearly sideways when Quinn grinned.
"You came!" Parker said. The excitement in her voice reminded Eliot of whenever she got money or saw ungodly amounts of it in one place. In all honesty, it wasn't something he ever expected to hear in her voice pertaining to a person. Especially one like Quinn. "I knew you would."
"Course, not every day I get asked to go on a date with someone who saved my ass," Quinn answered. He held out the cereal to her like they were flowers. The gesture made Eliot gain a little more respect for the other hitter.
Parker's face fell a bit.
"Are you here because you owe me?" Parker asked. Most of the time people liked to overlook the fact the thief was extremely observant and could see the writing on the wall in favor of how naive she came across as when dealing with people.
Then Quinn did something which amazed them all.
"No, I'm very interested in you, I have been since you built that rigging system to explain how to get around the wind shear issue," Quinn said. He shook the cereal box. "I was going to wait until the job was over to see if you wanted to get coffee, but then-"
"The Clusterfuck," Parker finished, smiling.
"The Clusterfuck," Quinn repeated. He dropped a twenty on the bar for his drink before standing, "Where are you taking me?"
"Bouldering," she answered, handing the cereal box to Sophie. "You'll be fine as long as you don't fall. You know, because you and Eliot beat each other up."
"I won that fight by the way," Eliot grumbled.
"Won isn't the word I'd use there, Spencer."
"Boys," Sophie warned. She looked between them as they both mumbled apologies, "Good, now, Parker, why don't you and Quinn get going?"
"Shall we?" Parker asked and offered up her arm.
Eliot watched them leave; Quinn taking the offered elbow like he was a debutante at a cotillion while listening intently to whatever Parker was saying at a mile a minute.
"And we're just going to let Parker go off with Bizarro Eliot?"
There were times when Hardison made very good points about various things, but this wasn't one of them. And despite the fact Eliot wanted to believe Quinn was the version of himself that he'd have become if he stuck to past habits, he couldn't.
"Quinn's honorable or at least as honorable as you can get in his line of work," Eliot found himself saying.
"And he is quite the gentleman. I always signed up immediately for a job if he was on the crew." Sophie said. Eliot saw the distinctive Sphinx smile appear on her face, knowing she'd say no more than that.
Eliot pushed the matter from his mind, but kept an eye on his phone. It wasn't Quinn he was worried about, but Parker. If her date stepped out of line, he sincerely doubted she'd have little to no compunction causing him great harm.
He'd never bailed someone out on an attempted murder charge before.
Note: Thanks to Firelord65/Dragonmaster65 for her bad influence and awesome encouragement that made this possible!
