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leveragetober · 6 months

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@leveragetober

Leveragetober

Prompt 24: Blood

In which Eliot realizes he is actually bothered by blood... when it belongs to someone he loves. (Under the cut)

Eliot Spencer had had blood on his hands many times before. Sometimes it was his and sometimes it wasn't. It had been a long time since the sight of blood had bothered him, but this was different. This was Hardison's blood.

Eliot's stomach lurched as more blood oozed between his fingers as he pressed more pressure on the stab wound on Hardison's stomach.

Hardison let out a cry of pain and clasped one hand over his mouth.

"It's okay Hardison." Eliot said. "Just stay with me. The others are on their way. We're gonna get you to a hospital, okay. Just hold on."

Hardison whimpered and clutched at Eliot's arm.

"Eliot, we called an ambulance, it's on its way." He heard Sophie's voice over the comms. "We're almost there too."

Eliot felt Hardison's grip on his arm loosen, his eyes drooped closed.

"Hey, stay with me, Hardison!" Eliot's chest grew tight with panic. "Damnit Hardison! Stay with me!" His voice shook.

Hardison didn't respond.

"Come on, open your eyes! Say something, anything! Just stay with me!" Eliot begged.

Eliot felt more blood seep between his fingers and looked down at the puddle that was forming on the pavement.

That's too much! Eliot thought. Too much blood!

Finally, Eliot heard the distant wailing of sirens getting closer, and a minute later an ambulance was pulling into the parking lot. Two paramedics jumped out, grabbed the stretcher and rushed over.

"We'll take it from here." One of them said, pulling Eliot away.

"Eliot!"

He watched helplessly as they lifted Hardison onto the stretcher and loaded him into the back of the ambulance. Cold dread washed over him as the ambulance sped away, leaving him completely alone, covered in his best friend's blood.

Eliot spun around when he heard Parker's voice behind him and saw Sophie, Nate and Parker rushing towards him.

"Eliot, where is he?" Parker demanded.

Eliot opened his mouth trying to form an explanation, but his throat felt all dried up and no words came out. He swallowed hard and tried again.

"Paramedics took him." Is all Eliot managed to say.

He took a few deep breaths then said "We gotta get to the hospital."

Eliot started for the van, but Nate put out a hand to stop him.

"You go home." Nate said firmly. "Get cleaned up. We'll go to the hospital and let you know as soon as there's any updates."

"No." Eliot argued. "No. I have to--"

"Eliot!" Nate cut him off. "You're covered in blood. Go home. We'll make sure Hardison is okay."

Eliot gave in. He felt too empty inside to put up a real fight.

"I'll take you home." Sophie offered, seeing how lost Eliot looked. She had never seen him this shaken up before and it made her wonder just how bad it had been.

"Come on." Sophie said and laid a hand on Eliot's shoulder. "We can meet them at the hospital as soon as you get cleaned up."

***

Eliot felt a twisting pain in his stomach at the sight of the red stain soaking his shirt and covering his hands.

It's just blood. Eliot tried to tell himself.

It's Hardison's blood! His mind screamed back.

Eliot pulled his shirt off and tossed it in the trash can. Then look at his hands covered in blood. They trembled uncontrollably as he held them under the faucet and scrubbed. The blood wasn't coming off. Eliot scrubbed more than added some soap. Finally. the last of the blood was gone from his hands.

Eliot clutched the edge of the sink and bowed his head.

How did I let this happen?

He looked up when he heard Sophie knock on the bathroom door.

"Eliot, Nate just called." She said.

Eliot flung the door open so fast it swung back and hit the wall.

Sophie jumped a little.

"Hardison's out of surgery." She said, "The doctor's said he's responding well to the blood transfusion. They think he's gonna be okay."

Eliot nearly collapsed with relief.

"He's still unconscious from the anesthesia, but he'll probably wake up soon." Sophie added.

***

Eliot sat in the chair next to Hardison's bed, flipping absentmindedly through the pages of his book as he waited for Hardison to wake up. He looked up hopefully when he heard Hardison stirring in the bed. He waited a minute, hoping Hardison would wake up, but nothing happened.

Eliot closed his book and set it aside. He slouched down in the chair with a sigh and waited some more.

After a few minutes Hardison began to stir in his sleep more, then he reached his hand up and grabbed at the oxygen tube under his nose. Eliot stood up quickly and grabbed Hardison's hand and gently pulled it away.

"Leave that alone." Eliot said softly.

He scooched his chair closer to the bed with one hand and sat back down, still holding Hardison's hand in his other.

"Eliot...?" Hardison mumbled.

"I'm right here." Eliot said soothingly.

Hardison slowly opened his eyes and turned to look at Eliot.

"What happened?" He asked, drowsily.

"You don't remember?"

Hardison shook his head.

"A couple of the mark’s goons attacked you. They uh... they stabbed you. I tried to get to you sooner, but..." Eliot trailed off. "Hardison, I'm really sorry." He finally finished.

Hardison shook his head.

"Don't be." He mumbled. "Where’re the others?"

Eliot was glad for the change of subject. He didn't really want to think about what had happened anymore.

"Parker went to get coffee and donuts, she should be back any minute. Nate and Sophie had to wrap up the con. He thought the goons might come back to try and finish the job if we didn't take them down soon." Eliot explained.

It wasn't long after that that Parker came back with a box of donuts and a couple of coffees. Her face lit up when she saw that Hardison was awake. She rushed over and set the food down on the small table beside the bed before sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Hardison.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Horrible." Hardison mumbled.

Hardison had a habit of over exaggerating the extent of his injuries, but this time Eliot knew there was no exaggeration.

"Well, you're gonna be okay, thanks to Eliot." Parker said.

No. Eliot thought. It's my fault he's here in the first place. If I had just gotten to him a little faster, I could have stopped this.

He knew the others didn't see it that way, but nothing they could say would change his mind. He had been too slow, and it nearly got Hardison killed.

"I'll be back in a minute." Eliot said, standing up from his chair.

As soon as he was out in the hallway he leaned against the wall and slid slowly to the ground. He leaned his head back and took a shaky breath. A tear slipped down his face as all his emotions finally caught up with him, the fear, the relief, the guilt. It all spilled over.

#AH INSANE #they’re so beloved to me <3 #leveragetober #leveragetober 2023

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leveragetober · 6 months

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this was the only thing i could think of for the chess prompt and its so funny to me

leveragetober day 22- chess

taglist: @blueskiesandstarrynights @katbratsupernaturalwhore @joshkiszkashusband @thedrowningpoetofdionysus @thedragonemperess @depressedtransguy @genuine-possum @dramabeansoup (lemme know if you want to be added or removed)

#leveragetober #leveragetober 23

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leveragetober · 6 months

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@leveragetober

Leveragetober 2023

Prompt 21: trapped

Eliot and Sophie get trapped in the mark's office building when an explosion causes it to collapse. (Under the cut)

"Eliot, Sophie, get out of there now!" Nate's voice was desperate in Eliot's ear, but his warning came too late.

Eliot heard the sound of an explosion, then he felt the shock wave hit, knocking him off his feet.

***

"Sophie! Eliot! Answer me!" Nate demanded, his voice shaking with panic.

Hardison raised a hand to cover his gaping mouth.

"Nate, their comms just went off line."

"Get me eyes in the building then!" Nate ordered.

"I can't. The explosion knocked out all the cameras.”

"Parker, get us there." Nate demanded.

Parker jumped into the front seat of the van and threw it into drive.

Hardison grabbed the wall to avoid being thrown to the ground as the van sped away.

The surrounding area around the mark's collapsed office building was swarming with first responders by the time they got there. The police had set up a perimeter blockade around the building and weren't letting any civilians through.

***

Eliot groaned and opened his eyes, coughing and gasping as he tried to catch his breath. The air had been completely knocked out of him by the force of the shockwave. His ears were ringing and his head ached. He lifted his hand to his forehead and felt warm blood between his fingers. Something must have hit him in the head when the building caved in. There was something cold and wet seeping into his back. He hoped it was just water.

Eliot shivered and tried to sit up, but there was something heavy pinning his right shoulder to the ground. He looked over and saw a large piece of rubble had fallen on his arm.

He raised his head and looked around as best he could, his head pounding with every movement. It was almost completely dark except for the occasional flicker of a broken ceiling light. He could barely see anything, and the flickering light was only making things worse.

"Sophie?" He called out.

He heard her groan and then some shuffling in the darkness.

"Sophie?" He repeated.

"I'm here." She said, "Just follow the sound of my voice."

"I can't. I'm pinned down."

There was more shuffling and then she was beside him, crouching down.

"I'm here." She said again.

"There's a flashlight on my keychain." Eliot said. "It's in my right pocket."

Sophie reached into his pocket and pulled it out. The flashlight was small and barely gave off any light, but it was enough to get a better assessment of the situation.

At least now he knew the source of the water that was washing around him. A pipe had broken in the explosion and was flooding the room with water.

"Does it hurt?" Sophie asked, looking at the rubble that was crushing Eliot's arm.

"Don't worry about it." Eliot said.

It did hurt and the pain was getting worse by the minute, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He didn't want her freaking out.

"Sophie, I need you to find something long, preferably metal, to use as a lever to lift this off my arm." Eliot said.

Sophie nodded and stood up to look around, shining the flashlight in all directions.

"Hold on, I think I see something over there. I'll be right back."

Eliot rested his head back on the hard ground and felt the cold water rising around it.

"Sophie, please hurry." Eliot said as calmly as he could

Sophie looked down at the water pooling on the ground then back to where Eliot was trapped.

"Uh oh." She whispered.

She grabbed a long piece of broken metal pipe and brought it back over to Eliot. She jammed it under the rubble that was pinning him and tried to lift it but it only budged a little.

Eliot clenched his jaw, trying not to cry out in pain as the rubble shifted painfully on his arm.

"Sorry." Sophie apologized quickly and stopped trying to lift the rubble.

"No. Keep going." Eliot said through gritted teeth.

"Eliot I don't think I can get this off of you." Sophie admitted.

"Well, you're gonna have to." He said.

He didn't mean to sound so harsh, but she really was his only way out now, and if she didn't hurry he was going to drown.

"Sophie, the water in here is rising fast." He added

"I know." Sophie took a deep breath. "Okay, okay, I can do this." She encouraged herself.

She took a couple deep breaths then grabbed the lever and pushed down on it as hard as she could.

Eliot felt the rubble lift ever so slightly and tried pulling his arm out from under it. He let out a sharp cry of pain as something sharp in the rubble tore into his skin, but he didn't stop pulling.

Sophie couldn't hold the lever any longer.

“I gotta set it back down.” she warned.

Eliot felt the pressure fall back onto his arm. He had only managed to pull his arm out a couple inches. He was still trapped and in more pain than before. And, to make matters worse, resting his head on the ground was no longer an option. The water had risen too high. Eliot lifted his head as high as he could, but the water was still rising fast. Eliot knew there wasn't much time left.

Sophie glanced down at him. She knew it too.

"One more time." Eliot said. "And no matter what, don't drop it this time."

Eliot didn't mean to sound so demanding, and maybe it was completely unfair to expect Sophie to lift the rubble all on her own, but there wasn't any other option.

"Okay, ready?" Sophie asked

Eliot braced himself and nodded.

Sophie put all her weight on the lever and lifted the rubble again, but not as high as last time. Eliot tried to pull his arm out, but it didn't budge.

He felt the water rise higher around his face.

"Eliot, take a deep breath!" Sophie ordered.

Eliot waited till the very last second then sucked in as much air as he could just before the water washed over his head, cutting him off from Sophie.

He felt the pressure on his arm lift a little more, just barely enough for him to move his arm.

Searing pain shot through his arm as he tried to pull it free, inch by inch, the rough surface of the rubble tearing at his arm.

He squeezed his eyes shut and clasped his free hand over his mouth to stop himself from crying out in pain; a mistake that would be fatal with his head now completely under water.

Sophie watched as Eliot thrashed under the water, desperately trying to pull his arm free. She squeezed her eyes shut, gathered all of her strength and pushed down as hard as she could on the lever. The rubble lifted, shifting to the side and Eliot's arm was free. She released her grip on the lever with a sigh of relief and waited for Eliot to sit up, but he didn’t move, even now that his arm was free.

"Eliot!" Sophie cried and reached into the water.

She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up so his head was out of the water. He flopped limply in her arms.

"Eliot, wake up!" Sophie cried and dragged him over to a pile of rubble not yet submerged in water.

She gently slapped his cheek, trying to get him to wake up.

He's not breathing! She realized.

"Eliot, please breathe!" She cried and shook him. “Eliot! Please!”

Eliot's chest heaved and he coughed, water spurting from his mouth.

"That's it! Just breathe!" Sophie rolled him onto his side so he wouldn't choke as more water came up.

Eliot coughed and vomited up more water, then finally took his first shaky breath. He slowly sat up, clutching at his injured shoulder.

Sophie pulled him into a tight hug and felt him trembling. Eliot wrapped his good arm around Sophie and for a while neither of them moved.

"We need to get out of here." Eliot said after a while.

"I think I saw a way out earlier. Do you think you can stand?" Sophie asked.

Eliot nodded, but when he tried his knees buckled and he nearly fell. Sophie grabbed him and just barely managed to keep him upright, then helped him sit back down on the pile of rubble. She glanced down, noticing for the first time the deep gashes along the length of his arm.

“Eliot, you’re losing a lot of blood!” she exclaimed.

Eliot nodded, then slowly pulled off his button-down and wrapped it tightly around his arm. It wasn’t going to do much to stop the bleeding but he had to try something. Then he stood, more slowly and cautiously this time. Sophie offered a hand to help him as he stumbled to his feet.

"Alright, we'll take it slow." She said, slipping his arm over her shoulders, and helped him walk towards what she hoped was a way out of this deathtrap.

***

“There they are!” Parker shouted and pointed.

Through the mess of firefighters and police, Parker could make out Sophie and Eliot, stumbling towards a group of paramedics.

Eliot had one arm over Sophie's shoulder so she could help support him as they walked, but his other arm hung limp at his side, covered in blood. They were both bleeding from multiple cuts on their faces and their clothes were dirty and torn.

Parker leapt over the first responder barricade and sprinted towards them, ignoring the firefighter that yelled at her to stop. She heard Nate and Hardison close behind her.

Just as she reached Sophie and Eliot, Eliot stumbled and fell forward, his eyes rolling back in his head. Parker grabbed him and barely managed to keep him upright.

A couple of paramedics arrived only a few seconds later with a stretcher.

“Eliot, stay with us!” Parker begged as the paramedics lifted him onto the stretcher, but she knew it was no use. Eliot was already unconscious.

***

Eliot felt a gentle hand in his as he slowly drifted out of sleep.

He remembered getting out of the collapsed building, but he must have blacked out after that because that was the last thing he could remember.

"Parker...?" Eliot mumbled.

He knew it was here holding his hand before he even opened his eyes.

"I'm here." She whispered.

Eliot finally forced his eyes open and looked around the room. He recognized the plain whitewashed walls and horrible white lights of a hospital almost immediately. Then there was the uncomfortably pinching of the heart monitor attachments, the IV in his arm and the warm, dry air being pumped into his nose from the nasal cannula. Eliot hated hospitals.

Hardison was asleep in a chair to his left with his head resting on the edge of the bed. Eliot glanced over at Parker on his right, then down at his arm, wrapped in bandages.

"The doctor said your shoulder was dislocated and your arm was covered in pretty deep cuts, but other than that nothing was broken." Parker explained.

That's lucky. Eliot thought.

He had been so sure that every bone in his arm had been shattered.

"How's Sophie?" He asked groggily.

"She's okay. She has a concussion and some scraps and bruises, but other than that she's fine. Nate's with her. I think he's being a little overprotective though. He won't even let her get out of her hospital bed."

That didn't surprise Eliot one bit.

Eliot glanced back at Hardison who was sound asleep.

"How long was I out?" He asked.

"A couple hours."

"How long till I can leave?"

“Not until the doctors say it’s okay.” Parker said firmly.

Eliot groaned.

“Sophie told us what happened.” Parker said. “You need to be here in case there’s any complications.”

To him, that just sounded like some excuse that Parker was parroting straight from a doctor.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Eliot muttered.

“Eliot you almost drowned, and you lost a lot of blood.”

Eliot grumbled to himself but he didn’t argue anymore. He didn’t have the energy to argue right now and, as much as he hated to admit it, the doctors were probably right.

Eliot settled back into the bed and closed his eyes again. He would worry about getting out of here later.

#parker running through the barricade to help eliot!!!#sophie doing everything she can to get the rubble off of eliot even though its hurting him!!#theyre a family!!! <3 #leveragetober #leveragetober2023

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leveragetober · 6 months

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singing and dancing in the rain

leveragetober day 20- rain

taglist: @blueskiesandstarrynights @katbratsupernaturalwhore @thedrowningpoetofdionysus @thedragonemperess @joshkiszkashusband @genuine-possum @depressedtransguy @dramabeansoup (lemme know if you want to be added or removed)

#leveragetober #leveragetober 2023 #leveragetober 23

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leveragetober · 6 months

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me when eliots so self sacrificing but not because he wants to die, but because he couldnt live with himself if parker or hardison didnt make it

leveragetober day 19- job gone wrong

taglist: @blueskiesandstarrynights @katbratsupernaturalwhore @joshkiszkashusband @genuine-possum @someguyiguess @thedrowningpoetofdionysus @thedragonemperess @depressedtransguy @dramabeansoup (lemme know if you want to be added or removed)

#leveragetober #leveragetober 2023 #leveragetober 23

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leveragetober · 6 months

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@leveragetober

Leveragetober 2023

Prompt 19: job gone wrong

When a job goes wrong and falls apart, Eliot, Hardison and Parker lay low at Nana's house for a bit. (Under the cut.)

Eliot felt blood well up in his nose and begin running down his face into his mouth. More blood ran down his face from a cut on his forehead. He spat out a mouthful of blood and turned to face the last of the mark's goons. The job had fallen apart so fast that Eliot wasn't sure what had initially gone wrong.

Parker and Hardison had already made it out safely and were waiting for him in the van, but their cover was blown and Eliot still had to fight his way out. These guys were good. Much better than average. Eliot had already taken out five of them, but not before sustaining several hard blows to the head and a few cracked ribs. He was pretty sure his shoulder was dislocated too. His head was pounding and his vision was starting to get blurry. The world seemed to tip and spin around him, but he couldn't pass out, not until he was absolutely sure Parker and Hardison were safe. If he passed out now they'd try to come in after him and risk their own lives. He couldn't let that happen.

The last goon rushed towards him and Eliot threw his hands up to block a punch. He caught the goon's arm and managed to twist it behind his back then shoved the goon into the wall. The goon hit the wall hard but didn’t go down. Eliot drove his knee into the goon’s stomach then used his elbow to hit him in the head. That did the trick. The goon collapsed to the floor.

Eliot stumbled to the exit, blinking in the sudden sunlight.

Parker was waiting by the open door of the van and Hardison was in the driver seat. As soon as she saw Eliot exit the building she ran to him.

“Here, lean on me.” she said, slipping his arm over her shoulders, and helped him walk the rest of the way to the van.

***

Nana sat by the window reading a book and sipping her warm tea. Occasionally she'd glance out the window to watch the snow falling silently outside. She hated the cold but she loved the way the falling snow looked under the orange glow of the street lights at night.

She looked up from her book when she heard the phone ringing. She sighed and got up to answer it. If someone's calling this late in the evening it better be important.

"Hello?"

"Nana, it's me." She heard Hardison's voice on the other end of the call.

He sounded stressed.

"Alec, it's late. you should be in bed."

She knew her son was almost never in bed before midnight, but she had to try.

"No, Nana. We were doing a job and things went south. We need a place to stay and lay low for a couple days. Can we come over?"

"Are you close?" Nana thought they were all the way in New York for a job the last time she checked, not anywhere near home.

"We're a couple hours away."

"Well, why didn't you tell me you were in the area?"

"We were going to, I promise. We were just gonna wait till we finished the job."

"Well hurry up and get here then." Nana ordered. "I'll have a couple of beds made up for you by the time you get home."

"Thank you, Nana!" Hardison said

"We love you, Nana!" She heard Parker call.

"Love y'all too." Nana chuckled to himself as she hung up the phone.

Alec had found himself a good couple of people to be with. She was glad they were there to have his back.

***

Hardison and Parker both helped Eliot out of the van and up the front steps to Nana's house. He was almost completely relying on them to keep him upright.

Hardison rang the doorbell and they waited. Only a few seconds later Nana was at the door. She gasped when she saw Eliot bleeding from several cuts on his face.

"What happened to you?" She demanded.

"Long story." Eliot muttered.

"Well, come in quick! It's freezing out." Nana stepped aside to let them through the door. "But be quiet. The kids are sleeping."

The three of them followed Nana inside to the living room. There was an air mattress in the middle of the room and blankets and pillows on the couch. Nana took Eliot's arm and helped him to the couch.

"Alec, go get the first aid kit. Parker, go get a bag of peas from the freezer." She ordered.

"Ya'know I can do this myself." Eliot said as Nana took the first aid kit from Hardison and opened it up to begin treating Eliot's wounds.

"No you can't." Nana glared at him. "Because I’m not going to let you.”

"Okay." Eliot knew there was no point in arguing.

Nana looked up at Parker and Hardison.

"Do you two really let him treat his injuries all by himself?" Nana scolded

"We try, Nana. I promise. But he almost never lets us help."

Nana turned her scolding look on Eliot.

Eliot opened his mouth, trying to come up with a defense, then closed it again, looking sheepish. Nana had that effect on people.

When she had finished helping Eliot with his injuries she took the bag of peas from Parker and pressed them against Eliot's head.

"Hold those there." She said, before heading for the kitchen. "I made you guys some dinner. Parker, why don't you come help me carry it to the living room."

Parker followed Nana obediently into the kitchen. You never said no to Nana.

“Parker, be honest with me. How often does this job put you guys in this much danger?” Nana asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the others.

“Only occasionally. But we always keep Hardison safe. We wouldn’t let anything happen to your son.” Parker promised

Nana smiled.

“Well that’s good. I'm glad to hear that you look after him, but Alec isn’t the only one I’m worried about.”

“We take care of Eliot too. I promise.” Parker added quickly. “We all look out for each other. It’s rare that Eliot gets hurt this bad. Me and Hardison make sure of that.”

Nana nodded as she filled four bowls with warm soup.

“Okay. That's all I needed to know.”

She handed two of the bowls to Parker and took the other two and they carried them back to the living room.

Eliot was laying down on the couch with the bag of peas on his forehead and Hardison was sitting on the arm of the couch by Eliot's head. They were quietly bickering about something.

“Here, sit up.” Nana said and handed one of the bowls to Eliot. Parker handed a bowl to Hardison and they all crammed onto the couch next to Eliot to eat.

"Alright, you guys get some sleep." Nana said when they had all finished eating. "The kids'll be up around nine for breakfast, but you guys are welcome to sleep later than that if you want. I’ll try to keep the kids quiet for you.”

Nana took the dishes and left the three of them to settle down for bed.

Nana tried not to worry about them as she laid down for bed.

They’re strong and smart and they know what they’re doing. She told herself, but it didn’t help much.

They were part of her family, all three of them, which meant she would never stop worrying about them. At least she knew they would always have each other’s backs when a job went wrong.

#nana caring about parker and eliot as much as hardison #🥺🥺🥺🥺#leveragetober #leveragetober2023

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leveragetober · 6 months

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uno was banned so they moved to go fish

leveragetober day 16- game night

taglist: @blueskiesandstarrynights @joshkiszkashusband @thedragonemperess @thedrowningpoetofdionysus @joshkiszkashusband @genuine-possum @depressedtransguy @katbratsupernaturalwhore @dramabeansoup (lemme know if you want to be added or removed)

#leveragetober #leveragetober 23 #leveragetober 2023

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leveragetober · 7 months

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eliot spencer had one job- keep parker and hardison alive, even at the cost of his own life. when worst comes to worst, he would take every bullet, hours of torture, any amount of bad guys coming after him if it meant his partners would stay alive.

and if that meant drinking both cups to ensure hardison lives, so be it.

"no. absolutely not. we can get out of this. the team will find us." hardison argues, but eliot's made up his mind.

"i'm supposed to protect you, let me do this." eliot crosses his arms in front of his chest, the pale lighting of the warehouse reflecting on the fake gemstones. whoever was doing this had a sense of humor. two goblets, identical down to the 'made in china' stamp on the bottom. wine was poured to the same level, and there were no discernible differences that eliot could tell. it was like one of those fucked up morality tests in those movies that hardison loves so much.

"no. no. i won't let you. el, we can make it out of this alive, both of us." tears pool in his eyes and spill down his cheeks. "please don't do this."

eliot wants to believe him, he wants to be optimistic, but more than that, he wants to protect his family.

"it'll be okay, alec. you and parker will live. nate and sophie will live."

"but you won't." hardison's voice breaks and eliot wipes his eyes.

"i've already lived longer than i planned." eliot musters a smile and reaches to take hardison's hand in his own.

the tension eases ever so slightly from hardison as eliot reaches with reflexes quicker than hardison and pours the liquid out of hardison's glass into his own and downs it in one.

if you're looking at the art and wondering hey that looks kinda familiar- i stole it from the labyrinth of gedref, the scene where arthur and merlin are about to drink poison. (leveragetober day 15- poison)

taglist: @blueskiesandstarrynights @katbratsupernaturalwhore @thedragonemperess @thedrowningpoetofdionysus @joshkiszkashusband @someguyiguess @depressedtransguy @genuine-possum (lemme know if you want to be added or removed)

#leveragetober #leveragetober 23

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leveragetober · 7 months

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@leveragetober

Leveragetober 2023

Prompt 15: Poison

Eliot gets sick and collapses. Parker and Hardison rush him to the hospital and later find out that he was poisoned. (Under the cut)

Recently Eliot, Hardison and Parker had each started taking turns doing client meetings. Parker was getting better at them, but she didn’t really like doing it, so they had agreed to take turns. Sometimes all three of them went to the meetings together, but this time it was Eliot’s turn to go alone.

“How’d the meeting go?” Parker asked when he got back from the meeting.

“Honestly, I'm not sure we should trust this client.” Eliot admitted.

“What do you mean? Why not?”

“I just have a bad feeling about it. Little details of her story aren't lining up. It also seems like the kind of job that would actually be better handled legally.”

“So what, we’re not necessary?” Hardison asked.

“This time, no. I don't think we are. She also seemed just a little too enthusiastic about the part where this job potentially involves crime on our part.”

“You think it’s a set up?” Parker asked.

“Maybe. How much of a background check did you do?”

“Just a brief one. Everything seemed to check out, but I'll dig a little deeper.” Hardison pulled out his laptop.

Eliot sat down on one of the stools at the counter and massaged his temples. His head was starting to throb.

“You feeling okay?” Parker asked.

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.” Hardison said contemplatively.

“What?” Parker asked.

“Eliot might be right about this. The deeper I dig the less her story checks out.”

Eliot pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. The low throbbing in his head had turned to pounding and the lights suddenly felt too bright, which was bad, since the office lights were pretty dim to begin with.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Hardison asked.

“It’s just a headache.” Eliot muttered through gritted teeth.

“Okay, go lay down.” Parker said. “We can pick up with this later.”

“Till then, I’ll keep digging and see what I can find about our client.” Hardison offered.

Eliot stood up, but stumbled and leaned against the counter, clutching at his chest. His lungs suddenly felt tight, making it hard to breathe.

“Eliot, what’s going on.”

Eliot straightened up and tried to take another step, but his knees buckled under him.

Parker rushed forward and caught him before he hit the ground. She stumbled under his sudden weight and lowered him gently to the ground. Hardison rushed over and crouched down next to them.

“Eliot, talk to me. What’s going on?” Parker demanded.

“I– I can’t breathe.” Eliot gasped, pain coursing through his chest as he tried to take a deep breath.

"Hardison, call for an ambulance!"

Hardison already had his phone out and was dialing 9-1-1.

"It's okay Eliot, you're gonna be okay." Parker tried to comfort him. "Here, take a deep breath in with me." Parker took a deep breath, but Eliot couldn't. He opened his mouth, trying to suck in air but he couldn’t seem to get enough.

Parker lifted Eliot's head onto her lap and Hardison squeezed his hand. Eliot squeezed back.

“Just hold on.” Hardison begged. “An ambulance is on the way.”

Eliot’s head suddenly jerked back and he let out a strangled cry as his whole body lurched with pain. Eliot squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his jaw. He heard a horrified gasp from Parker and felt a gentle hand clasp his cheek.

“Eliot, hold on.”

“Stay with us man.”

“You’re gonna be okay. Just hold on a little longer.”

Parker and Hardison’s voices sounded muffled like they were coming from far away.

“Damnit Eliot. Open your eyes.” Hardison was practically shouting but Eliot could barely hear him anymore.

Eliot’s grip on Hardison’s hand loosened then went limp. He wanted to hold on, for them, but he couldn’t, not anymore. The pain was too much.

“Eliot, no!” was the last thing he heard as he lost unconsciousness.

***

Hardison sat next to Eliot's hospital bed, holding his hand in the vain hope that Eliot would feel it and know that he was safe. Parker was on Hardison’s lap, leaning her head against his chest. Her eyes were closed, but Hardison knew she wasn’t really asleep because he could feel her trembling.

The doctors still weren't sure what had happened and they didn’t seem very confident that Eliot was going to recover.

They don’t know Eliot. Eliot’s gonna be fine. He has to. Hardison told himself.

Hardison glanced over at Eliot. The sight of the breathing tube in his mouth and the IV in his hand made Hardison’s stomach twist. He knew that right now, Eliot was relying on the ventilator to breathe for him. Whatever had happened seemed to be affecting Eliot's lungs more than anything else.

Hardison looked up when he heard a gentle knock at the door and turned to see a doctor come in. Parker shot to attention too.

“The blood work came back.” the doctor said. “There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is your friend was poisoned.”

Hardison clasped a hand over his mouth.

“What’s the good news?” Parker demanded.

“The good news is it's a fairly easy poison to treat. We’re preparing the treatment now.”

A meeting with a potential client who’s story didn’t add up, then Eliot gets poisoned. The wheels started turning in Hardison’s mind. The client was involved in this somehow. He felt sure of it, but he didn’t have the energy to think about it now, or to figure out how the two were connected. They could worry about that later, once Eliot was okay.

***

Several hours had passed since the doctors had given Eliot the treatment for the poison and still nothing seemed to have changed.

Hardison got up and started pacing back and forth in the room. Parker took his place in the chair.

Shouldn't there be some sign of improvement by now? What if we're too late?

Hardison suddenly stopped pacing when he heard Eliot shifting in bed. He looked over just in time to see Eliot reach up and grab at the breathing tube in his mouth and darted over, grabbing Eliot’s hand before he could pull it out. Parker stood up and moved closer in case she needed to help.

Eliot struggled against Hardison’s grip, trying desperately to reach the tube, but he was still so weak from the poison that Hardison barely had to try to keep him from reaching it. Eliot began thrashing around under Hardison’s grasp.

“Eliot, calm down, man. You’re gonna hurt yourself.” Hardison tried to soothe Eliot, but he wasn’t even sure Eliot was actually conscious. He still hadn’t opened his eyes and he wasn’t responding to anything Hardison said.

The heart monitor suddenly started beeping as Eliot's heart rate began to race.

Hardison cupped Eliot’s face in his hand and tilted his head to look at him.

“Hey, listen to me. You’re gonna be okay, but you have to relax. Parker and I are right here with you.”

Eliot finally opened his eyes and Hardison almost wished he hadn’t. There was so much fear and panic in his gaze as he locked eyes with Hardison. And Eliot couldn’t even say anything. Hardison squeezed his hand.

“Everythings gonna be okay,” he repeated. “I’m right here, and I got you.”

Eliot stopped struggling and relaxed a little at the sound of Hardison’s words. Hardison started to pull his hand away from Eliot's so he could pull up his chair to sit down, but Eliot tightened his grip on Hardison’s hand. He looked up at Hardison with a pleading look in his eyes.

It must have been like torture for Eliot, not being able to speak and barely able to move. Hardison knew how much Eliot hated hospitals, even when he didn’t get a breathing tube shoved down his throat. He hated the vulnerability of them.

Hardison sat down on the edge of the bed next to Eliot and Eliot squeezed Hardison’s hand a little tighter.

“Okay, I’m not going anywhere.” he promised. “Do you think you could maybe not break my hand, though?”

Eliot loosened his grip on Hardison’s hand a little but didn’t let go.

***

It was only a couple hours after Eliot woke up that the doctors had decided it was safe to take him off the ventilator, but Hardison knew it must have felt like ages to Eliot.

Eliot had agreed to stay in the hospital for a few days so the doctors could monitor him closely to make sure there weren’t any complications. Hardison knew Eliot, though, so he wasn’t at all surprised when Eliot insisted on leaving the hospital early.

The doctors couldn’t do anything to stop him. Parker and Hardison had tried to convince him to stay, but it was no use. So the doctors had given them strict instructions to make sure Eliot stayed on bedrest and to keep a close eye on him.

Eliot wasn’t good at being put on bedrest.

“Eliot, get your ass back in bed.” Hardison demanded when he saw Eliot get up and wander towards the kitchen.

Eliot just rolled his eyes and kept walking. He was recovering pretty well, but was clearly still a little unsteady on his feet. Keeping Eliot in bed was like pulling teeth.

Parker moved to stand in front of him, deliberately blocking his way.

“Parker, move. I'm hungry.” Eliot growled.

“No. go sit down. Hardison and I will get you food.”

“It’ll put me back in the hospital if I eat his cooking.” Eliot muttered under his breath.

Parker grabbed his arm and firmly guided him to the couch. She smiled a little to herself.

He must be feeling at least a little better if he’s making comments like that. She thought.

“Stay.” She said, gently forcing him to sit down on the couch.

Eliot grumbled and rolled his eyes, but he didn't try to get up.

As Parker headed back to the kitchen, she heard him shifting around and glanced back to make sure he wasn't getting up again. He had settled himself more comfortably on the couch and Hardison had joined him.

What would he do without us? Parker thought as she rummaged around in the kitchen for something easy to make.

#this was so in character i can absolutely see an ep being like this #i loved it!!!#leveragetober #leveragetober 2023 #leveragetober 23

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leveragetober · 7 months

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@leveragetober

Leveragetober 2023

Prompt 14: Future

At the end of the long goodbye job, Eliot promised to keep Parker and Hardison safe till his dying day. A few days later Parker and Hardison decide that promise needs a little revision. (Under the cut)

"Hardison, do you ever think about what our future would be like?" Parker came and sat down next to him on the couch.

Hardison shrugged.

"Maybe a little bit. I don't think it really matters what we do in the future as long as we do it together.”

"And as long as Eliot agrees to be there with us too." Parker said.

"Of course," Hardison nodded. "But I don't think we need to worry about that. He already promised us, till his dying day."

"I know, but what about our dying day? He said till his dying day not ours. What if his comes first?"

"Babe, I don't think that's gonna happen." Hardison said.

“Why not?"

"Well because he has us to look out for him... until our dying day. Sure, he throws himself into all sorts of dangerous situations for us, but would we ever let it go too far?"

"No." Parker smiled and shook her head.

"No. Absolutely not." Hardison said. "I don't really like thinking about it, but I'm pretty sure there's not a single scenario in which any of us dies much sooner than the others. Eliot may have said till his dying day, but I'm saying it now: his dying day's gonna be our dying day too."

Parker smiled. That sounded just fine to her, as long as it was a long time in the future.

"Y'know I can hear your whole conversation, right?" Eliot called from the other room.

Oops. Parker thought. Oh well. He needed to hear it, anyways.

“And for what it’s worth, you wouldn’t last a day without me anyways.” Eliot added.

Parker knew he was mostly joking, but he was right. They couldn’t live without each other.

Eliot walked in carrying a few drinks and sat down on the couch with Parker and Hardison, then handed them each a drink.

“Till our dying day, then.” Hardison said, raising his orange soda.

Parker and Eliot raised their drinks.

“Till our dying.” they repeated and clinked their drinks with Hardison’s.

#till our dying day 🥺🥺🥺#leveragetober #leveragetober 2023

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leveragetober · 7 months

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Leveragetober23 Day 13: confession

The doors are locked with more security protocols than the White House's inner sanctum.

The shutters are down, both physically and digitally.

Anything that can access the internet is locked four floors down in a lead lined box with every camera in the room (and some outside) covering the box's surroundings.

A literal satellite has been borrowed to watch over their region, with a specially designed AI watching over everything, and taking care of any issues that may erupt. (Obviously, this is not sustainable, but for the next 12 hours, at least, everything will be fine.)

Allies have been, well, not informed of what is to come, but they have been subtly told to be on watch. Allies are only allies as long as they aren't given the opportunities to become enemies, so while they haven't been informed of the plan, they are aware that something is going to happen, not many know about it, but if something goes wrong then hellfire will rain down and justice will be swift and severe.

And finally, there were emergency experimental (experimental…in as much as anything Hardison designs on a three day binge after shotgunning orange soda and then falls into a mini coma afterwards is…experimental) shots that would shoot everyone into fighting form within 30 seconds, as long as you are willing to undergo the absolutely spectacular crash 4 hours later.

Hardison grinned.

"All right everyone, everything is as locked down as is physically possible, the drinks have been poured, we are ready." Hardison rubbed his hands together as an evil smile spread further and further across his face. "Let's commence…Operation: Never Have I Ever."

#they’re so silly i love them #leveragetober23 #leveragetober

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leveragetober · 7 months

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Leveragetober23 Day 12: pride

Parker is singing again. It's kinda creepy, but the group isn't willing to call them out on it.

Bigots can try, but they will fry.

Over and over and over again.

The taser sparks. Everyone shuffles back, just a little bit. No one makes eye contact.

Eliot goes back to hauling away the still twitching body while Hardison goes through the man's phone. Ostensibly, it's to see what he knew about them and what his mission was. Really, it's just so he can leave Parker to it. He loves his partner, really, but sometimes his person is whoo boy, as Nana would say. He leaves Parker to it. They grin and start the chorus over again, stroking the handheld lightning stick.

Really, it's not like the group was doing any crimes right now, anyway! Anyone with any sense could see that! Unless there is an apocalyptic level job that just absolutely needs to be taken care of, the founders of Leverage International never seem to work in June. So why all of these people have come out of the woodwork to try to arrest them, or capture them, or whatever it is they are trying to do, right now?? They're not having it. And of course, everyone is decked out in their colors, with all the pins and patches and paint to match, so people have made some stupid comments. But they learned.

Really, just try and stop Parker. Oh, that's right, you can't. Because they have a taser and a goal.

Originally, it was just Sophie's vacation. Every June, she would take the month off and go swanning off somewhere that no one else knew about. Nate tried to follow her a few times, but when Sophie doesn't want to be found, she was not. After a while, though, she opened up, and it turns out the big secret is that she charts out all of the major pride parades across the world and just spends the month country hopping, joining in on every celebration of pride she can.

Once the group found out, it sort of became a family outing. Everyone learned a lot about each other that they didn't know before, all they were all closer for it.

Sophie is a raging pansexual. That woman has got it on with every gender out there at least once, and she loved it. Truly, she just loves the human body in every shape and form it comes in. People routinely get gender euphoria just from being in her presence. She honestly might be a goddess, no one is sure, and they also aren't sure they want to know.

Parker isn't so much a girl as just girl-shaped in the eyes of society. They'll answer to she, but really they'll answer to anything and people just assume she. They like they/them the most, though. And pretzels. They really like pretzels, and think Alec and Eliot would too.

Alec vaguely knows he isn't entirely straight. He loves Parker, in all their Parker-ness. But he also has feelings about their resident hitter that he is not entirely clear on. He never really crushed on people all that much when he was younger, too. He really had to know them before he ever thought of them in that way. Either way, Nana always said he had a big heart. That was usually followed by some version of "now put the money back, please, we'll donate our own time to the homeless shelter, not someone else's resources," but suffice to say, he goes all out in his love.

Eliot, likewise, isn't a heterosexual cis man, but he's known that since the beginning. He knows he got lucky, having the parents and the support system he did, and he is thankful every day. His family accepted him from the beginning, and was able to contact a close friend who was able to help them out with getting prescriptions for testosterone early enough that he never really had to go through a lot of the pains and dysphoria a lot of people in his shoes go through every day. He is aware of his privilege, and he is grateful to everyone that helped make his belief into reality. (He also hasn't realized that Parker is basically courting him and Hardison is trailing after with a smile on his face and his heart in his eyes, but he'll realize it soon enough.)

Nate, though you would never know it when first meeting him, totally had bi-wife energy. Nate met Maggie through Sterling at I.Y.S., but she was on her way out the door to go clubbing with some friends and dragged him along when she saw how miserable he looked at the office party. Soon enough they were dancing the night away, and that was that. Maggie is also one of the least problematic people you will ever meet, so of course she was still close friends with all of her exes, which meant Nate was close with them too. Let's just say some of their dinner parties could get a little…raucous.

But coming back to now.

For some reason, all the grumps and grunts have decided June is the month this year to just get in their way, and Parker is having none of it. There are plans! Charts! Parties to attend, celebrations to have, riots to honor! And No One is going to stop them.

Bigots can try, but they will fry. Tzzzt!

#parker tasing bigots is everything i need in my life #leveragetober #leveragetober23

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