moonlettuce | Fic: The Black Cat Job, Leverage, Alec/Eliot

Title: The Black Cat Job
Author: Claire
Pairing: Alec/Eliot
Rating: G
Summary: The kitten was abandoned on the steps to Eliot's building...
Notes: Originally written for the following prompt in

comment_fic: Leverage, Alec/Eliot, black cat.

The kitten was abandoned on the steps to Eliot's building, lone survivor in a box of its siblings that weren't so lucky. And it's cold out. Too cold for the kitten to last much longer, so Eliot picks it up, picks her up, and tucks her inside his jacket to warm up as he goes inside.

She's so still against his chest on the elevator ride up to his floor that Eliot thinks for a moment that he was too late, but wide eyes are looking at him as a soft purr starts to rumble through her body.

Eliot's on the phone to Hardison as soon as he's through the door, and Hardison is bitching and moaning about being woken up at 3:00am by Eliot and his weird-ass demands for kitten milk, but he's still at Eliot's place less than an hour later.

The bag Hardison puts on Eliot's counter produces kitten milk, kitten food, a cat bed and a lime green mouse that Eliot eyes suspiciously. Hardison just shrugs and says a cat's gotta play.

They take turns in feeding her the milk, rough tongue lapping the liquid off their fingers until she's full and curled up in a sleeping ball on Eliot's chest. Hardison's asleep as well, head against Eliot's shoulder and drooling on his t-shirt. Eliot thinks he should wake him, should nudge him and thank him and send him home. He falls asleep with his thigh pressed against Hardison's and the sound of purring in his ears.

Eliot's starting to believe that Hardison bitching and moaning when he wakes up is normal as he cuts off a rant about the evils of his couch by waving blueberry pancakes under Hardison's nose. The kitten's on the table, lapping milk out of a saucer instead of off their fingers and it's a race between her and Hardison as to who's going to clear their plate first.

Hardison eyes her as he swallows the last of the pancakes, declaring that coming to Eliot's rescue in the middle of the night surely gives him joint naming rights.

Eliot just kisses him, and refuses to name her Vader.