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!]

Comments

[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.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot grinned. "Yes, sir."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Oooh, callin' me sir," Hardison said with a laugh. The tension he was feeling hadn't completely dissipated, but it was at manageable levels. "An' while the kids are around?"

[vdistinctive]

"Mm," Eliot hummed. "Somethin' to look forward to, then. When I'm all rested up."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"We'll talk about this weekend then?" Hardison asked. "After you had a chance to think on it awhile?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot grimaced. He'd been hoping that 'I'll go get my head sorted out and come back' was enough talking about the weekend. "Yeah, maybe. Eventually."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Aww, Eliot, that was adorable.

That 'maybe' was getting him a look, too. "If you'd rather we don't wait, we could always talk about it now?"

THOSE WERE THE OPTIONS, ELIOT.

[vdistinctive]

"Look. I stepped over the line, and it ain't happenin' again." Eliot went over to the fridge, looking for a beer. Or, you know, any other distraction. "There, we talked."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You an' I both know that ain't what I wanna talk about," Hardison said. "If I was anglin' for an apology, you'd know it."

[vdistinctive]

"I'm dealing with it, okay?" Eliot said. "We don't need to make a whole big production out of it."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Havin' a conversation ain't a production, it's havin' a conversation," Hardison said. "It's important enough for you to take a week off to think about, it's important enough to talk about when you get home."

[vdistinctive]

"What, you're punishing me for wantin' some time to myself?"

That wasn't fair. But Eliot didn't much think forcing him to talk about stuff he didn't want to talk about was fair, either.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Wantin' to talk to you about important stuff ain't a punishment any more'n you insistin' on teachin' me to fight is," Hardison said, unimpressed. "An' you know it."

[vdistinctive]

"And I don't deal with things by talkin' about them. You know that."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Which means that sometimes you just don't deal with 'em."

Case in point.

[vdistinctive]

"As I recall," Eliot said, voice low. "Tryin' to force people to do things the way I wanted 'em to was the problem. Or is it only bad when I do it?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You really pullin' some false equivalency nonsense?" Hardison asked. "You're better'n that. An' we both know you're smarter'n that."

[vdistinctive]

"You wanna stop tellin' me what I 'know'."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Fine," Hardison said with a sigh, pushing himself away from the wall. "I don't know what you know. But I know that you ain't gonna be magically better after a week."

He walked into the kitchen. He needed to get himself an orange soda.

[vdistinctive]

"Ain't gonna be magically better bein' forced to talk, either," Eliot pointed out after him, then slouched onto the couch. God he was tired. This was like the damn gun argument all over again. He hated this shit.

But he hated talking about this shit even more.