75 Godiva, Sunday evening

[vdistinctive]

There wasn't anything quantifiable that Eliot could nail down, but he could tell when Fandom managed to shake off its latest evil invasion. It was like an enormous, evil weight had been lifted from the world.

It was an enormous relief, but mostly Eliot kind of wanted to take a nap. Again. Apparently freaking out as hard as he had took a lot out of a person, more than sleeping a good 10 hours straight thanks to the medication Hardison had dug up.

"Right," he said. "So . . . what. We should be good through, like, March now, right?"

[ooc: for the family, especially, but can also be open!]

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[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Maybe even April," Hardison said, sounding tired. "I'm votin' for April."

[vdistinctive]

"Later the better," Eliot agreed. "Never'd be nice, but I'm tryin' to be realistic."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison draped himself over Eliot, long limbs draped everywhere, a lap blanket to go with the Parker-blanket over his shoulders. "One day, one of these things is gonna need to be solved by a heist an' we'll be golden."

[vdistinctive]

"'Cept for how we'll have about 30 or 40 extra people wantin' in on the action to plan around," Eliot said. Only having to worry about poorly trained security guards again would be great, though.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"We'll tell 'em all they're distractions," Hardison said. "Make all be a part of a flash mob we incorporate into the heist. It'll work. 'Specially if we give 'em all code names."

Everybody liked code names.

[vdistinctive]

"You gonna assign 'em Eagles 1-30?" Eliot asked. "I better be the only Mr. Punchy."

Really, Eliot. As though there could possibly be another.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Never. But that wasn't going to stop him from being an ass about it,

"I dunno," Hardison drawled, because he was a troll to those he loved. "I think Steve might make a good Captain Punchy."

Oooh, stolen and outranked!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot scowled. "Captain Prissy, maybe."

Someone was maybe still holding a tiny grudge from when they'd both been wee.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison gave him a confused look. He'd missed that interaction.

"What's wrong with Steve? I mean, besides his taste in pizza?"

[vdistinctive]

"Guy wanted to fight me because I wasn't being polite enough." A beat. "We were, like, seven at the time."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"...You still carryin' a grudge over that?" Hardison asked. "Yo, he also thought Corn Flakes was a good cereal. Boy could get knocked over by a strong gust of wind."

[vdistinctive]

"I do when you're givin' him my name," Eliot grumbled. "Musta gotten his wheaties in eventually, though. Pretty sure he could probably break me if he wanted to."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Eliot," Hardison said in almost breathless disbelief. "Are you jealous?"

[vdistinctive]

"What? No! What're you -- I'm just sayin' --"

Someone was shooting for a full 'dammit, Hardison'.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

And Hardison was just sitting there, watching Eliot sputter, looking positively delighted.

[vdistinctive]

"Dammit, Hardison!"

There it was.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I wasn't s'posed to notice?"

[vdistinctive]

"You tellin' me I got something to be jealous about?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison was just going to look at him again.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot scowled and went to go get a beer. "Talkin' 'bout 'Captain Punchy', thinks he's goddamn funny or somethin', then calls me jealous. . . ."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I don't see Parker holdin' grudges from when she was pretend-seven for the weekend."

Holding grudges from when she was actually seven, sure. But not pretend.

"Really? Really? You really think I'd call anybody else 'Punchy?' Or give 'em a punchin' animation?"

[vdistinctive]

"You were the one sayin' you were gonna give everyone on the island codenames."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison laughed and tried to tug Eliot over to him. "An' even if I did, not one of 'em would ever have Punchy in their name," he promised. "Don't matter who else is on the island, ain't any of 'em you."

[vdistinctive]

"Goddamn right," Eliot grumbled, all growly and scowls right up until the moment he kissed Hardison. "Don't you forget it."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Lookit you, makin' it sound like it's possible," Hardison laughed, then kissed Eliot again.

This was good. This was better than good. This was what they'd needed after the strain of the week. Still, they really needed to talk about some things.

"You know, though," he said, several long moments later, "back when we first started alla this, you wanted the freedom to explore things with other people. That still somethin' you want?"