diff --git a/docs/sphinx/conf.py b/docs/sphinx/conf.py
index 946acf7..d7c53e8 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/conf.py
+++ b/docs/sphinx/conf.py
@@ -45,4 +45,5 @@
 
 intersphinx_mapping = {
     "python": ("https://docs.python.org/3", None),
+    "requests": ("https://docs.python-requests.org/en/master", None),
 }
diff --git a/elastic_transport/_models.py b/elastic_transport/_models.py
index d886219..df70157 100644
--- a/elastic_transport/_models.py
+++ b/elastic_transport/_models.py
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ class NodeConfig:
     connections_per_node: int = 10
 
     #: Number of seconds to wait before a request should timeout.
-    request_timeout: Optional[int] = 10
+    request_timeout: Optional[float] = 10.0
 
     #: Set to ``True`` to enable HTTP compression
     #: of request and response bodies via gzip.
@@ -278,10 +278,10 @@ class NodeConfig:
     #: issued when using ``verify_certs=False``.
     ssl_show_warn: bool = True
 
-    # Extras that can be set to anything, typically used
-    # for annotating this node with additional information for
-    # future decisions like sniffing, instance roles, etc.
-    # Third-party keys should start with an underscore and prefix.
+    #: Extras that can be set to anything, typically used
+    #: for annotating this node with additional information for
+    #: future decisions like sniffing, instance roles, etc.
+    #: Third-party keys should start with an underscore and prefix.
     _extras: Dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict, hash=False)
 
     def replace(self, **kwargs: Any) -> "NodeConfig":
diff --git a/elastic_transport/_node/_http_requests.py b/elastic_transport/_node/_http_requests.py
index 6716f4b..89978f6 100644
--- a/elastic_transport/_node/_http_requests.py
+++ b/elastic_transport/_node/_http_requests.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 try:
     import requests
     from requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter
+    from requests.auth import AuthBase
 
     _REQUESTS_AVAILABLE = True
     _REQUESTS_META_VERSION = client_meta_version(requests.__version__)
@@ -79,7 +80,12 @@ def init_poolmanager(
 
 
 class RequestsHttpNode(BaseNode):
-    """Synchronous node using the ``requests`` library communicating via HTTP"""
+    """Synchronous node using the ``requests`` library communicating via HTTP.
+
+    Supports setting :attr:`requests.Session.auth` via the
+    :attr:`elastic_transport.NodeConfig._extras`
+    using the ``requests.session.auth`` key.
+    """
 
     _CLIENT_META_HTTP_CLIENT = ("rq", _REQUESTS_META_VERSION)
 
@@ -96,6 +102,16 @@ def __init__(self, config: NodeConfig):
         self.session.headers.clear()  # Empty out all the default session headers
         self.session.verify = config.verify_certs
 
+        # Requests supports setting 'session.auth' via _extras['requests.session.auth'] = ...
+        try:
+            requests_session_auth: Optional[AuthBase] = config._extras.pop(
+                "requests.session.auth", None
+            )
+        except AttributeError:
+            requests_session_auth = None
+        if requests_session_auth is not None:
+            self.session.auth = requests_session_auth
+
         # Client certificates
         if config.client_cert:
             if config.client_key:
diff --git a/tests/node/test_http_requests.py b/tests/node/test_http_requests.py
index 9bfaaf6..2ff7bc0 100644
--- a/tests/node/test_http_requests.py
+++ b/tests/node/test_http_requests.py
@@ -22,13 +22,14 @@
 import pytest
 import requests
 from mock import Mock, patch
+from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth
 
 from elastic_transport import NodeConfig, RequestsHttpNode
 from elastic_transport._node._base import DEFAULT_USER_AGENT
 
 
 class TestRequestsHttpNode:
-    def _get_mode_node(self, node_config, response_body=b"{}"):
+    def _get_mock_node(self, node_config, response_body=b"{}"):
         node = RequestsHttpNode(node_config)
 
         def _dummy_send(*args, **kwargs):
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ def test_ssl_context(self):
         assert adapter.poolmanager.connection_pool_kw["ssl_context"] is ctx
 
     def test_merge_headers(self):
-        node = self._get_mode_node(
+        node = self._get_mock_node(
             NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80, headers={"h1": "v1", "h2": "v2"})
         )
         req = self._get_request(node, "GET", "/", headers={"h2": "v2p", "h3": "v3"})
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ def test_merge_headers(self):
         assert req.headers["h3"] == "v3"
 
     def test_default_headers(self):
-        node = self._get_mode_node(NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80))
+        node = self._get_mock_node(NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80))
         req = self._get_request(node, "GET", "/")
         assert req.headers == {
             "connection": "keep-alive",
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ def test_default_headers(self):
         }
 
     def test_no_http_compression(self):
-        node = self._get_mode_node(
+        node = self._get_mock_node(
             NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80, http_compress=False)
         )
         assert not node.config.http_compress
@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ def test_no_http_compression(self):
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize("empty_body", [None, b""])
     def test_http_compression(self, empty_body):
-        node = self._get_mode_node(
+        node = self._get_mock_node(
             NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80, http_compress=True)
         )
         assert node.config.http_compress is True
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ def test_http_compression(self, empty_body):
 
     @pytest.mark.parametrize("request_timeout", [None, 15])
     def test_timeout_override_default(self, request_timeout):
-        node = self._get_mode_node(
+        node = self._get_mock_node(
             NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80, request_timeout=request_timeout)
         )
         assert node.config.request_timeout == request_timeout
@@ -214,8 +215,23 @@ def test_ca_certs_is_used_as_session_verify(self):
 
     def test_surrogatepass_into_bytes(self):
         data = b"\xe4\xbd\xa0\xe5\xa5\xbd\xed\xa9\xaa"
-        con = self._get_mode_node(
+        node = self._get_mock_node(
             NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80), response_body=data
         )
-        _, data = con.perform_request("GET", "/")
+        _, data = node.perform_request("GET", "/")
         assert b"\xe4\xbd\xa0\xe5\xa5\xbd\xed\xa9\xaa" == data
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("_extras", [None, {}, {"requests.session.auth": None}])
+    def test_requests_no_session_auth(self, _extras):
+        node = self._get_mock_node(NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80, _extras=_extras))
+        assert node.session.auth is None
+
+    def test_requests_custom_auth(self):
+        auth = HTTPBasicAuth("username", "password")
+        node = self._get_mock_node(
+            NodeConfig("http", "localhost", 80, _extras={"requests.session.auth": auth})
+        )
+        assert node.session.auth is auth
+        node.perform_request("GET", "/")
+        (request,), _ = node.session.send.call_args
+        assert request.headers["authorization"] == "Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ="