Fandom: Leverage
Characters/Pairings: Parker/Eliot Spencer
Rating: Teen
Length: 500 words
Written for: fan_flashworks challenge #371 "Shout"
Summary: Eliot is in a bad mood, Parker tries to figure out why.
Originally Posted: May 21, 2022
CW: emotional hurt/comfort
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Parker watched carefully as Eliot stomped into the kitchen. He opened a cabinet door, glanced inside, and made a noise that was a lot like a growl. She sat at the table and watched him repeat this with each of the kitchen cabinets, and then the refrigerator and freezer. He did not look happy. "Why are you being all shouty?" Parker asked.
Eliot's eyebrow twitched and he frowned. "What are you on about?" His voice was gruff and growly.
She thought he looked cute with his face all scrunched up and angry, but she was smart enough not to tell him that. "What's up with you? You've been in a bad mood since you got out of bed this morning." Parker picked up her spoon and scooped up some cereal. Fruity O's, her favorite.
Eliot shook his head. "It's nothing."
He was lying. It was definitely something. Eliot didn't like sharing his feelings. She was so great at sharing her either, but she'd been trying to be better about that. "Didn't seem like nothing when you were slamming doors and yelling at Hardison earlier." She didn't even understand what they'd been fighting about. She wasn't sure that Eliot did either.
Eliot raked his fingers through his hair. It was still damp from his shower earlier. "I wasn't yelling. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed is all."
What did that even mean? "That saying never made any sense to me. Why do beds have wrong sides? Can you tell which side is the wrong one? If so, why use it?" Parker frowned at her empty bowl. "Or does the side that's bad keep changing so you never know which is the right side and which is the wrong side?"
Eliot looked down, his hair hung down, covering his face. "It's a metaphorical wrong side of the bed."
Parker tilted her head to the side. "I don't get it."
Eliot sighed. "I didn't sleep well." He sounded frustrated.
"Oh, okay. That I understand. Why not just say that?" Parker didn't understand why people had to make everything so complicated. She shook her head. As if people weren't complicated enough to begin with.
"It's just what people say, Parker." Eliot pulled out a chair, turned it around, and sat down across from her.
Parker picked up her bowl, drank down what was left of the sugary milk, and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. "People are weird."
Eliot laughed. "You're not wrong."
"So, how come you woke up grumpy?"
"Bad dreams."
Parker nodded. That she understood. She'd had her share of nightmares. They were the worst. "Did you want to talk about it?" She was pretty sure that's what you were supposed to ask.
Eliot shook his head.
Parker didn't like to talk about her bad dreams either. She fidgeted with her spoon. "Did you want to watch a bad movie and make fun of it together?"
Eliot gave her a smile. "I'll make the popcorn."
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