75 Godiva, Wednesday

[vdistinctive]

The house was gutted down to studs, many of which had been rearranged to make the new configuration of rooms the team had agreed on. Eliot was working on framing the new upper story now, which meant a hard hat, tool belt, gloves, the works.

Seriously, he had this whole men-at-work carpenter look down up here. He hoped his partners appreciated it. Lord knew he did on the few occasions Hardison got down and dirty with a maker get up. He wondered how much Hardison would fuss about the sawdust if they tried to fool around in (a carefully cleared area of) the construction site. . . .

Work was happening, if a little slow. Since the carpenter kept distracting himself with idle fantasies.

[yeah I dunno. Open! Eliot should be visible from the street while he works. . . .]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison paused a moment to lick his lips. Watching Eliot work was always a delight, whether he was building something or taking someone apart. He was just so comfortable in his body, the same way Parker was in hers, though they used theirs in very different ways.

"What?" he asked, a beat too late for it to sound natural. "You sayin' you don't need a hand?"

He...might?...not have intended for it to sound that...innuendo-y?

[vdistinctive]

Eliot looked Hardison up and down without even the faintest effort at trying to hide it. "Yeah," he said. "I could absolutely use a hand."

He definitely meant that as innuendo-y as it sounded.

"Should probably finish with at least this crossbeam first though." Case in point. "If you wanna hold up the other end for me, we can get to that 'hand' even faster."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I think that's somethin' I can do," Hardison said, rolling up his sleeves. Maybe subtly flexing, just a bit.

He had surprisingly nice arms for a computer nerd. Not that this was anything Eliot didn't already know.

[vdistinctive]

Already knew and regularly appreciated, but Eliot was not going to complain about getting to see them in action again. Hell, if he could just get Hardison to let him train him up proper, the man could be dominate in a fight. . . .

Of course, it was just those muscles that had also managed to give Eliot his worst concussion in years, so he didn't try very hard to talk Hardison into training with him.

He shoved that thought firmly aside and went back to happily enjoying the sight of his boyfriend's muscles.

"Careful, you do this too well I'm gonna make you help me hang drywall in a couple weeks."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"See, this is why I don't help," Hardison said with a laugh. "Insteada bein' all appreciative of what I'm doin', you gotta go an' ruin it with more work!"

[vdistinctive]

"Trust me, man. I am appreciating this." Eliot grinned. "Just lookin' forward to all the appreciatin' I could do if I got you holdin' up a full piece of sheetrock."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Mmmhmm," Hardison said, taking his end of the crossbeam with very little effort. "Sheetrock, huh? Kinky."

[vdistinctive]

Well, it was just a two-by-four. Still, Eliot appreciated the view.

He laughed, pulling out the hammer and nail to secure the beam into place. "Nah, the exposed beams are kinkier." Mostly in that you could get tied to them. "I just like seein' those muscles of yours put to use now'n then."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Don't think Hardison's brain hadn't traveled there, too. "I will have you know, liftin' two liters can be very taxin'," he drawled.

[vdistinctive]

"Uh huh. You'll have to show me those two-liter-lifting muscles sometime. Pretty sure they ain't got nothin' on what I'm lookin' at right now."

And again, Hardison was only holding up one end of a two-by-four.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"But they're hella more fun to get," Hardison snarked back, before adding, "Though, gotta admit, I like the idea of helpin' out with buildin' our new home."

Building, renovating, whatever. The point was, it was theirs.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded. "This one's really gonna be all of ours. Was thinkin' maybe you could even do a mural or somethin' in here when it's all done. . . ."

Old Nate was a travesty, but it was extremely well painted, as far as Eliot could tell.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Old Nate had served its purpose! All of them! And there had been several!

...Most specifically, annoying regular Nate. And it had, to Hardison's constant glee.

"Yeah?" he asked, pleased. "Anythin' specific you were thinkin' about?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shrugged. "Hell if I know. I ain't much of an artist. Just . . . somethin' nice."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You ain't gotta be an artist to know what you like," Hardison said. "Whatever it is, there's gotta be somethin' like cash or gold in it to make Parker happy."

She still didn't really get art for art's sake, but she knew what she liked.

[vdistinctive]

"Could do something with gold leaf," Eliot suggested. ". . . 'Course, now all I can think of are Russian icons or Islamic geometry or somethin'."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Islamic geometry is pretty," Hardison said, looking thoughtful. "Yo, Eliot, what's your favorite museum? Or bank, maybe, but I think Parker's the only one of us who has one of those."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot frowned, hammering in the last nail on his end of the support beam. "Can't say I ever put much thought into it. Do you have one?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I kinda like the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna," Hardison admitted. "It's just really pretty. But you mentioned Islamic geometry which kinda sparked some thoughts about a mural for all of us an' I kinda got thinkin' about what Parker would like an' how she draws security blueprints sometimes, an..."

How would Eliot feel about an abstract design based on the security blueprints of their favorite places to rob?

[vdistinctive]

"And you're thinkin' of using blueprints as a design element?" Eliot guessed. "When I go to museums, it ain't the security or the art I'm lookin' for." He smiled, stepping back from his end of the beam, then moving to nudge Hardison away from his so he could secure it. "I like the Hagia Sophia," he offered, "but -- you're gonna laugh -- the first place I thought of when you asked that was a place back in OKC. The National Cowboy Museum."

Sometimes, Eliot was extremely predictable.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison's grin said pretty much the same thing. "Why ain't I at all surprised?" he asked the air. "You know you're gon' haveta bring me to that sometime, right? Cause, otherwise, I'mma get Tru to do it an' you ain't gonna appreciate what happens if we go together."

How much did he love being friends with Eliot's sister? SO MUCH.

[vdistinctive]

"Oh, so you'd willingly go back to Oklahoma for that, huh?" Eliot said. "Sure. You can learn all about how most cowboys looked a lot more like you than like me."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Nat Turner an' all that, yeah?" Hardison suggested. "But yeah, I'd go back to Oklahoma for that. But you know I'mma tease you about it with every step, right?"

Possibly by being over the top excited about it.

[vdistinctive]

"Like the original Lone Ranger," Eliot said, nodding. "Herdin' cattle was dangerous, backbreakin' work involving long hours and no luxuries, you think the rich white folk were doin' that shit? Museum covers indians, too, the real ones, none of that 'noble savage' bullshit from the movies. I mean, place ain't perfect or nothin', and a whole lot of it is full of old saddles and hats, but . . . hell, when I was growin' up, it was like a slice of heaven."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Wait, the Lone Ranger was real?" Hardison asked. "An' black?!"