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]

"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?"

[vdistinctive]

"Man, I ain't sure that was somethin' I wanted then," Eliot confessed. "Y'all freaked me right out." Still did in some ways, as was very evident by the weekend's freak out. "This kinda thing ain't gone well for me, historically."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Well, it's been a coupla' years by now, we all even moved in together, an' hell, you got a kid now," Hardison said with a low chuckle. "Ain't none of us decided to run away yet."

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah," Eliot said, glancing away. "Running wasn't what I was worried about."

His first love had run -- well, she'd stopped waiting while Eliot ran -- and that hurt. His second had died. And for a very long time, Eliot had thought he could let there be a third.

Let alone two.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison pulled him close, not to kiss him, just to hold. "I love you," he said softly. "An' you ain't gonna let anythin' happen to us."

Which brought them to the weekend, though.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shuddered faintly. "I won't," he said. "But you were right; this ain't healthy. I think . . . I need to take some time. On my own." He held up a hand, because he knew what that sounded like. "Not a lot, and not till after the holiday. But I gotta get my head back on straight without just wrappin' it around you two."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

There was a moment of straight, unadulterated panic shot through Hardison at Eliot's words. He did his best to fight it down, but he figured Eliot knew. Panic was a very distinctive emotion, after all.

"A'ight," he said carefully. "I can see that."

Something dark and cold gripped his insides and he struggled not to think of a different conversation, one that had started with him as part of a family and ended with him back in foster care.

"You figured out where you wanna go yet?"

[vdistinctive]

Yeah, Parker had reacted like that, too. Eliot couldn't blame either of them -- he'd be doing the same if it was one of them suggesting it. "Back to Oklahoma," Eliot said. "Visit Tru and her kids. Maybe camp a night or two like when I was a kid. Figured we could meet back up someplace nice for New Years?"

See? Not very long. And already making plans to get back together. He wasn't running.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

That helped stem the rising tide. Not much, but enough that Hardison felt like he could breathe a little easier. "Leave Christmas Day to catch dinner with your family?" he asked. His voice didn't sound just right, but it was at least working.

[vdistinctive]

"And leave Parker on Christmas?" Eliot raised an eyebrow. "I'm not crazy, man."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison broke into a relieved smile. "I wasn't lookin' forward to tryna cheer her up while you were gone," he said. "But, what, a week? We can let you go for a week. Ain't that clingy."

Ignore the way he was literally clinging to you right now.

[vdistinctive]

"Just a week," Eliot confirmed. "Any longer'n you two would end up huntin' me down."

He'd been hunted a lot -- Parker and Hardison were the only two where that sounded kind of like fun.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Hmmm," Hardison said thoughtfully. "Stick a pin in that thought for some time when it ain't gonna be stupid cold outside."

They had similar minds, at least when it came to being one-track and dirty.