Title: Boredom
Author: AyLee Cambell
Rating: PG
Pairing: Eliot/Parker Friendship/Bonding
Warning: None, Set during the Stork Job, slightly, but no spoilers.
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Just a little short something. NOT set in the Keeping the Secret Verse.

Thank you to dirtyblondie10 for Beta'ing on this.

She was bored.

Bored, bored, bored.

There was nothing to do on the flight so Parker was left to tap out annoying patterns on her armrest, which only she could hear.

Sophie and Nate were sleeping a few rows ahead of her. Nate had passed out not long after Sophie had taken the last little alcohol bottle away from him. Sophie followed not long after, only pausing to pull on an eye cover.

Hardison was a few rows behind the two and was totally absorbed in whatever he was doing on his laptop. Probably watching one of his shows since he would laugh to himself every once in a while.

That left Eliot in the row ahead of her. He looked every bit as bored as she was but he was staring out the window while she studied everyone.

Since they had taken a late flight there weren't that many passengers on board with them. Most of which were either sleeping or absorbed in their own worlds, not intruding on hers, which was exactly how she liked it, normally. Right now she was almost tempted to start a conversation just to rid herself of boredom. Parker quickly decided against that once she realized that the conversation would probably only last a few minutes before she was back to being bored, stuck in a conversation she really didn't want to be in, or she would do something they thought was weird and most likely have their undivided attention for the rest of the flight, which would not be welcomed.

So instead she was left to sit alone and try to amuse herself with her thoughts. She reviewed all of her previous jobs and was getting a few new ideas when she saw Eliot start to shift in his seat and look around the plane like she had just a few minutes ago.

"Bored?" She asked him, tilting her head to the right as she studied him.

Eliot tensed for a moment before turning to look at her. "Jeeze, Parker I thought you were sleeping." He said and she just blinked at him.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because you were being so quiet. Normally you can't sit still." He told her.

Parker smirked slightly in response. "I was thinking about the different jobs I've pulled, and a few more that I could pull."

Eliot looked at her for a moment, as if thinking through something before he looked around and sighed. Getting up he moved from his seat to the one next to Parker, mostly so that if they kept talking he wouldn't have to turn around and to not attract any attention from the other passengers.
He was bored enough that even a conversation with Parker was looking like fun, and if she threw in anything crazy, well that would only make it a little more interesting at the moment.

"Ever stole anything off a plane?" He asked her, curious for a moment.

She looked at him seriously for a moment. "I wouldn't suggest it. The exit strategy is somewhat difficult besides just jumping out. And they don't like it when you bring your own parachute."

Eliot laughed as he could just imagine her trying to bring her own on the plane and the airline telling her that it wasn't allowed. They probably had asked her why she would want to bring a parachute on anyway and she had most likely told them the truth, because she would have to leave fast or didn't trust the ones they had or something along those lines.

"Yeah, I was once sent to retrieve something from a guy getting on a plane. Luckily he didn't put up too much of a fight about letting me have it and I could stay the whole flight." He told her, smiling a little.

The silence that lapsed between the two was surprisingly not uncomfortable.

"How come you're not sleeping? I would have expected that you'd be asleep by now if there wasn't anything you could do." Eliot asked surprising himself that he was actually interested in her response.

"I don't sleep on planes, or in cars. Not while they're moving, and I dislike sleeping while other people are around me." She told him.

While okay, that was something he could understand. After all the years doing his job he was no longer comfortable with unknown people around him while he slept. He just didn't like letting his guard down where something could happen.

"I'm the same way, with people around." He offered, willing to be as open as her.

Parker blinked in response. Eliot was sitting here talking to her, being honest and didn't seem to be telling her something was wrong with her. Not that she really minded that, she almost saw it as a compliment. There was something wrong with her, she knew it and it was better that other people knew it too. That way they never made the mistake of treating her like a normal person. But that was almost how he was treating her and that was surprising since most of the time the only one who treated her close to normal was Hardison and that was only because he treated everyone that way.

Nate, Sophie, and Eliot tended to treat her like a mixture of a child, adult, and mental patient, sometimes. Not that she didn't tend to act like any of those at any point in time but it made her wonder why he was changing things now. Parker tilted her head to the side and studied Eliot intently and decided that he really must be as bored as she had been.

Suddenly becoming the Parker's sole focus left Eliot briefly a little unnerved until she smiled slightly and blinked, the moment broken.

"I don't sleep much." She told him and it took a moment for him to get that she was adding on to her earlier statement.

He shrugged. "Neither do I. I really don't need too much sleep, though I suppose some people treat it like it's a hobby."

"Sleeping's a hobby?" She asked, curious.

Eliot shrugged. "For some people it is."

"Not for people like us." She commented.

"Not a lot of people are like us." Eliot told her, nodding towards the others as well.

"Or like me." She said quietly.

Eliot laughed. "That may be a good thing though. Not sure what the world would do with more of you running around. It'd be broke and missing a lot of things though." He teased her, pulling a lock of hair gently.

"Yeah, guess so." She said and let her mind drift off for a moment. Shifting her body to get more comfortable she ended up leaning against Eliot's shoulder and when he didn't say anything she let herself relax against him.

"I'm still bored though." She said and he laughed at her.

"Me too." He told her and paused for a moment before continuing. "I've been thinking about the perfect prank to pull on Hardison after this job is done. You want in?"

"Oh, yeah. What do you have in mind so far?" She asked, perking up.

So they spent the rest of the flight plotting together…

Which is why Hardison now hates Paris.