In a fishing boat off the coast of Key West, Sunday afternoon

[vdistinctive]

Like Eliot was going to work a job in Key West without dragging his team out for some fishing? Sure. Right. It wasn't like Hardison could fuss about racist militias on the OPEN OCEAN, after all.

. . . He was waiting for the argument about pirates. Or maybe mosquitos. Or sharks. Whatever, they had a cooler full of beer, a boat to themselves, and an extremely low probability of running into any magic monsters this far from Fandom. Eliot was going to call it a win.

[ooc: for Leveragians and likely slow play.]

Comments

[vdistinctive]

"Ya don't go to a store and buy a marlin, Hardison." Well, you could, but it was definitely cheating. "You conquer it. And get it stuffed and hang it on the wall."

Or, you know, catch-and-release. But that wouldn't horrify Hardison properly.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

What was wrong with cheating?! That was what they did! That was who they were! As people!

"No. Uh-uh. Hellllllllllll naw. We ain't hangin' dead fish up on any walls. What? We some kinda group of barbarians now? 'Hey errybody, look at this thing we murdered!' Who does that? Old white British dudes is who. An we steal from people like that!"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot rolled his eyes and sighed, as though he weren't already planning on not hanging a marlin on his wall. "Fine. If you're gonna get a complex about it, we'll let it go when we're done."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Oh, so we're just gonna dig a metal hook into it's face, drag it in, hoist it up in the air to suffocate an' then let it go when we're done with it?" Hardison asked.

Fishing was legitimately the worst sport. At least, that Hardison could think of right now.

"After we're done here, can we go break a deer's leg an' then set it free?"

[vdistinctive]

"You got any idea what the odds of even catching a marlin is? It's about the challenge, man! Pittin' yourself against the natural world!"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I don't need to challenge the natural world!" Hardison protested. "It wins! I concede! I'm a delicate creature! I accept that!"

Which didn't explain why he'd flung himself at the tentacle beast with a damn spear, but he wasn't pointing that out.

"I don't need to Old Man and the Sea myself to prove that Mother Nature's better'n me!"

[vdistinctive]

"You ran in after a tentacle monster with a spear." Eliot was absolutely going to be pointing that out. Forever and always. It had been absolutely amazing and had made Eliot fall just a little bit more in love with Hardison.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Dammit, Eliot! Well...maybe you could keep talking a little. About the love thing, anyway. BUT NOT THE SPEAR-THING, IT UNDERMINED ALL HIS BEST POINTS.

"I ran in to make sure you didn't get your fool ass killed," Hardison grumbled, deliberately not making eye-contact with Eliot. "An' I'd been plannin' to use you as a shield an' poke it when its guard was down."

It might not have happened that way...exactly. For reasons. Like 'Hardison was braver than he let on, especially when idiots he loved her in trouble' kind of reasons.

Shut uo.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot rolled his eyes good-naturedly at that. "You weren't plannin' a damn thing. You saw a threat and you reacted. And it was damn cool."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Cool?" No, Eliot, don't look at him and his dopey smile! Or how pleased he was by the compliment. "...I guess. Maybe. A little."

"...You seriously thought it was cool?"

SENPAI NOTICED HIM!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot dutifully pretended not to notice the adorable dopey smile. "Well, you know, it coulda used a little less shrieking like a startled child, but other'n that. . . ."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"M--man, I flung myself into danger for you!" How quickly we changed our story, Hardison! "You're damned lucky my drawers were still clean and be grateful all I did was shriek like a startled kid."

And speaking of dopey smiles... "Bet Joey, Ada, an' Spike woulda loved to fight that thing."

[vdistinctive]

And there was one from Eliot. "Man, they woulda ripped that thing apart." The smile went slightly bemused. "Or made friends with it and asked to keep it as a pet."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"No tentacle monsters in the house," Hardison said immediately. "It's a rule I'm makin' up right now. Absolutely not."

[vdistinctive]

"Does it look like I'm arguin'?" Eliot asked.

The line that had been dragging behind the boat went taut and Eliot lunged for the rod. "We got a bite!" He shoved himself into the seat the rod was attached to and grabbed on, his feet coming up to brace against the back of the boat. Unlike with Parker, this one didn't tease. It held on and Eliot held on back with a shout and a broad grin. "It's a big one!"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Umm, okay!"

Hardison had no idea what to do. Film this maybe? For posterity?

"You, uhh, reel it in!" he called. "Parker....grab the net?"

Did they have a net?

"I'mma record your amazin' battle with a creature with a brain the size of a fig so you can relive this triumphant moment for always."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Smile!" Photos. And. "Net? Net!"

See, she could help!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot just grunted in return, muscles bulging as he fought to reel the fish in. The marlin crested over the wake of the boat for a moment, a good twelve feet or so long, not including its swordfish-like bill. It dropped back below the water a few times before leaping up into the air. The force of it diving down again nearly pulled Eliot to his feet as the rod bent sharply -- and then the line snapped.

Eliot whooped anyway, sitting back in the seat and wiping his forehead, not even trying to stop himself from grinning like an idiot. "She's a beaut!"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison was laughing--not at Eliot, but the sheer delight on his face. "Lookit her go!" he hollered, zooming in with his phone to follow her wake. "Man, anyone doubts you, we'll show 'em this video! That thing was huge! Almost the size of our boat!"

In a few minutes, Hardison would remember to panic about that and how easily they could have capsized. For now though, caught up in the moment and Eliot's exhilaration, he was whooping and cheering along.

[vdistinctive]

And Eliot would point out that the boat was literally built to handle fish just that size. Eliot didn't skimp when it came to equipment.

Right now he just whooped again and clapped Hardison on the back before dragging him in for a one armed hug. "Don't think we'll be gettin' better'n that, today."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison hugged him back, then dragged Parker in for an embrace as well. They didn't die! Hugs for all!

"So you gonna try for somethin' smaller?" he asked. "Or is it lagoon time?"

[vdistinctive]

"Dunno," Eliot said. "Wanna try for a barracuda?"

He knew the answer to that question. But he wanted to see if he could get Hardison's eyes to bug out again.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"THOSE THINGS HAVE SERRATED JAWS ELIOT, WE AIN'T WRESTLING ONE ON THIS BOAT, YOU OUTTA YOUR MIND?!"

You were a very mean man, Eliot.

[vdistinctive]

He used to kill people, Hardison. "Mean" was kind of a given.

"Alright, fine, we'll find a nice mangrove island and park it for awhile." You know, a lagoon. "Maybe we'll catch a tarpon on the way. They only get to be eight feet long."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison only knew what mangroves were because he played video games. Tarpons...who even knew? For all he knew, it was something Eliot had just made up to mess with him.

"You bring anything along besides beer in that cooler?" he asked. "Or were you plannin' on catching us lunch an' cookin' it over an open fire, roasted in mud and leaves or somethin'?"

...Don't tell him that was a legit way to roast fish, Eliot. He'd be heart-broken to realize his sass had misfired.