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Nate wasn’t sure whose idea it was to go to a Red Sox game. For all that Boston was his home town and Nate had a native’s reverence for Fenway Park, he certainly hadn’t suggested it. Just him and Eliot would have been fine, but adding the others into the mix was a recipe for disaster.
“How. . . quaint.” Sophie cooed as they moved through Fenway’s hallowed halls. “It’s very American.”
“It’s baseball, baby!” Hardison was fully outfitted in Red Sox gear, although his baseball cap was on his head backwards. “Don’t get more American than that.”
“I want a hotdog,” Parker was very excited and her eyes darted around the space. Apparently she wasn’t finding anything to steal, so focused on eating. “And a pretzel. And some peanuts.”
“We’ll wait until we sit down,” Hardison explained to her. “They’ve got guys that go up and down the stairs, selling stuff. It’s kind of like room service, except you’re at the stadium.”
Eliot hung back with Nate, walking close but not taking his hand. As usual, he was quiet.
“I suppose hotdogs and pretzels are an insult to your gourmet palate,” Nate teased, hoping to get his lover to open up.
His comment made Eliot grin. “We’re at a baseball stadium – THE baseball stadium. In a place like this, hotdogs are gourmet.”
As usual, that grin made Nate a bit weak in the knees. He stayed at the younger man’s side, content to let Sophie lead the way. The grifter was having fun, trying on a new character and accent each time she asked for directions to their section. Eventually, and with minimal chaos, they found their seats. Nate was pleased at how well they were placed. They were sitting along the third base line. The seats were high enough that they didn’t necessarily need to worry about foul line-drives, but were also close enough to see the players’ faces.
Nathan liked baseball because it was ultimately a game of strategy. It was, as Nate reluctantly admitted, a little light on the action side. After the novelty of getting food from the vendors wore off, Parker became restless. Hardison, to his credit, tried to keep her interested.
“Keep your eye on the guy at second base.” Hardison pointed along with his suggestion. “I bet he’s gonna steal.”
Eliot chuckled. “Oh, that’s not gonna end well.”
He was quickly proven right. Parker squealed and looked at the field with renewed interest. “Someone’s going to steal? In front of all these people? You didn’t tell me the game was that interesting, Hardison.”
“Yes, Hardison, you didn’t tell us that this game was so near and dear to our hearts.” Sophie knew about as much about baseball as Parker did. In other words, next to nothing. “What is he going to steal?”
Before Hardison could clarify, the next pitch was thrown and hit. It was a sacrifice fly, giving the player on first base plenty of time to steal second. The crowd went wild, but Parker and Sophie were left confused and disappointed.
“Did you see that?” Hardison pumped his fist in the air. “Sweetest base steal I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s it?” Parker demanded. “I thought you said he was going to steal second base. Look, it’s still there.”
“And what is so valuable about that dirty square anyway?” Sophie added. “It doesn’t even sparkle.”
“Look, I didn’t mean literally steal steal, you know.” Hardison pulled off his hat in frustration. “Y’all don’t know nothin’ about sports, do you?”
Nate stifled a laugh, but immediately got worried when he got a good look at the expression on Parker’s face.
“I bet I could steal it,” she claimed, eyes sparkling. “I bet I could do it in front of all of these people too.”
“No!”
“No way!”
“Oh, Parker.”
The others made various verbal responses to her statement, but it was Nate who grabbed Parker by the waistband when she rose to her feet and jerked her back into her seat. “Don’t even think about it.”
The next few innings passed fairly normally, enough that Nate didn’t think anything of it when Parker left to use the bathroom. While she was gone, the traditional ‘seventh inning stretch’ took place. There was an inexplicable delay after the fun was over, until an announcement came over the loud speaker.
“Sorry, folks.” The announcer sounded baffled. “Looks like second base somehow walked off while we were all stretching. It’ll be just a few minutes while the field crew brings out another.”
Nate rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat. Eliot, though, laughed out loud. “Atta girl.”
When Parker came back to her seat, there was a bounce in her step and a twinkle in her eye. “Now that’s how you steal a base.”
Hardison looked at her in exasperation. “Can’t take you anywhere.”
“Where’d you put it?” Eliot leaned across Nate to ask her.
Parker giggled. “In the opposing team’s locker room.”
Eliot put up his hand for a high-five, which Parker gladly gave. Nate just shook his head.
The next bit of excitement came shortly after play resumed. The player at bat connected solidly with the ball, but his timing was slightly off and immediately headed for foul territory – right where they were sitting.. All of the fans around the Leverage team got to their feet.
Hardison was beside himself. “I knew I shoulda brought my glove. I knew it!”
As the ball’s trajectory became clearer, however, it was obvious that it would go over their heads and land a few rows behind them. Parker, however, saw how badly Hardison wanted it. As the ball approached, she jumped to the back of the empty seat in front of her and used it to leap straight it in the air, snagging Hardison’s cap off his head as she did. Parker used the hat like a net and snagged the ball. Just for kicks, she did a summersault on the way down and landed on the back of the seat again as solidly as if it was solid ground and not just a two inch wide surface.
For a moment, the stadium was so quiet that a pin could have been heard if dropped. Then, the crowd went wild.
“Crap.” Eliot’s reaction was succinct, but fit the situation perfectly.
“Come on, we gotta go.” Nate got up and started herding the others towards the exit. He admired Parker’s style, but the last thing they needed was the attention.
The people around them wanted to congratulate Parker, which made getting out of the stadium difficult. By the time they made it outside, they were all a little out of breath.
“I took a base and made a catch.” Parker was almost giddy with excitement. “I like baseball! When can we go to another game?”
“Never.” Hardison immediately answered.
“Is football this much fun?” Parker danced around Hardison as she asked. “I want to try football next.”
Sophie snorted. “What Americans call football is not football. The rest of the world plays a proper game of football.”
“You mean there’s more than one kind?” Parker was confused again.
Nate listened to them with half an ear, the friendly argument both familiar and comforting. Eliot walked close enough to him that their shoulders bumped. Evening had fallen while they’d been in the stadium. Under the cover of darkness, Nate took Eliot’s hand. The hitter wasn’t much for public displays of affection, but to Nate’s gratification, he didn’t shrug it off. Despite Parker’s antics, Nate had enjoyed the game and spending time with his team.
That’s when it hit Nate. For the first time in a long time, they’d all been acting as themselves. There’d been no job; no intricate plan; and, except for Parker’s adventure, no thievery involved. They were more than a team; they were a family. And Nate was more than okay with that.
“Finally figured it out, huh?” Eliot’s voice was soft and fond. “Took you long enough.”
Nate came to a stop in the street and pulled Eliot in for a kiss. Even more surprising than accepting a public hand hold was the fact that Eliot didn’t try to get out of the kiss and even leaned into it.
“You do realize that you and this whole team,” Nate told Eliot when the kiss ended. “Have managed to steal a heart.”
Eliot grimaced and kissed him again. “Nate, don’t take this the wrong way, but say something that corny again and I just might have to break something.”
Nate wasn’t the least bit intimidated. “No, you won’t. You love me.”
“Well, yeah.” Eliot took Nate’s hand and tugged him until he started walking again. “Of course I love you, but I’ve got a reputation, you know. Can’t let the sappy stuff go by without protesting.”
A smile played around Nate’s lips. “Good to know.”
The others had gotten quite a ways ahead of them and Sophie turned to gesture impatiently at the laggards. “Come on, you two. Hardison’s volunteered Eliot to barbeque for us back at home.”
Home. Nate knew it’d be wherever his team was and, squeezing Eliot’s hand, he quickened his pace, very eager to get there.
~the end~