The loft above Luke's, Sunday night

[vdistinctive]

"I loaned Kanan one of your scarves, by the way," Eliot said as led the way into the apartment. "The sweater the island landed him in is even stupider than mine." He switched the lights on and gave the kitchen and living room a cursory scan. "You sure you two even want to crash here, tonight? Y'all been extra -- tense about this place lately

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[age_of_the_geek]

"Nah, nah," Hardison said, and appreciated it if neither of his partners called him out on how extra jumpy he was. "Don't wanna, y'know, wear out our welcome at your place or whatever."

Shh, he was laying groundwork for a special conversation later! Which would also be an excellent distraction from how totally-fine-he-absolutely-was.

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker was being bypassed by the Island, because she was already really in the holiday spirit. So. Much. Spirit.

"Also I said I'd try to make new stashes for you guys, so. I actually have to come back here, and move things around." Parker paused, suddenly looking at Megabyte. "GUYS SHE NEEDS ANTLERS."

Who's a good little reindeer? MEGABYTE!

[vdistinctive]

"You can't --" Eliot started, then had to cut himself off to sigh at Parker. "Dogs don't have antlers, Parker!"

Val would love some antlers, Parker. Especially if it made you grin at her like that. She was dancing around with her tongue flopping out over how you were grinning at her.

"You ain't gonna wear out your welcome. Have I kicked you two out even once?" Eliot asked. ". . . When I wasn't all fucked up an' crazy on elder god?"

[age_of_the_geek]

"She can have antlers if she wants to, Mr. Coldmiser," Hardison declared, stretching out a bit on the couch, his ugly sweater riding up a few inches and showing a long stretch of dark brown skin. "An', y'know, might be a first time for somethin'?"

He glanced over towards Eliot to see how he took it.

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker was now rummaging around in the bedroom, and coming out with her spare set of antlers for Megabyte to wear. "Hold still, sweetie, you're going to look awesome!" She looked from Eliot to Hardison, then bit her lip. "Are we talking about the thing?"

Noooo subtlety to it at all. Because she was still unnerved from last week, and she really wanted to go back to Eliot's place already.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot's response to the suggestion was buried under Eliot's response to that stretch of bare skin. He shrugged out of his goddamn sweater and sat down on the couch next to Hardison, where he could brush his fingers against that stretch while casually slipping his arm in between Hardison and the cushions.

"Which 'thing'?" he asked. "You two aren't startin' some new 'plan E' nonsense, are you?"

[age_of_the_geek]

"Nope nope," Hardison said with a slight shudder as Eliot's fingers played over him. "You can ask Parker, we agreed we ain't tryin' nothin' like that." He stretched an arm out to beckon Parker over. "I may be slow-playin' stuff, cause I'm me, but we ain't tryna pull a con on you."

[whoisalicewhite]

"No cons. No grifts," Parker confirmed, getting the antlers set pretty firmly back on Megabyte's head, before crawling over the couch to land curled into Hardison's side. "We just had an idea at the same time again. And we think it's good, but we're not sure, so. Anyway." She frowned, and readjusted her little tree-hat. "Do you like living by yourself? A lot?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shrugged. "Not 'a lot'. Was just the easier thing, mostly." Living by himself meant not having to explain to anyone when he went running off to help Vance out with a side job in Tajikistan. For example. "This about me comin' out here to live when we first moved to Baltimore? 'Cause that was about me not gettin' between the two of you." And not having to spend all his time trying not to be in love with them. "Which is somethin' we got well and truly solved, already."

[age_of_the_geek]

"Nah, ain't that so much," Hardison said, touching his chin. It was suddenly a lot harder to ask now that they were right there about to do it. "We were wonderin' if you still wanted to live alone."

[whoisalicewhite]

"Because we have alternative suggestions. Like alternative revenue streams," Parker said, nodding energetically. "Which don't involve you getting another dog, although that could be fun."

[vdistinctive]

"You two would just rename that one, too." Eliot shook his head, tucking the tips of his fingers under Hardison's waist band. "You know I basically ain't been living alone for more'n a year or so, right? We've been crashin' in each other's beds almost every night."

Why he couldn't just straight up answer "No, I don't mind not living alone anymore" he hadn't worked out yet. Maybe for the same reason they hadn't just straight up asked him to if they could move in yet.

[age_of_the_geek]

"An' this's been pretty much the best year of my life, even with all of Fandom's weird games," Hardison said, lids sliding halfway closed at Eliot's fingers. He decided to pass that along by running his hands through Parker's hair. "But...yeah. We were thinkin' about maybe rather'n crashin' in one another's beds an' goin' back an' forth, we just moved into one place permanently. All three of us. Official-like."

[whoisalicewhite]

"Ditto," Parker agreed, then hummed happily, leaning further into Hardison. "And we love our place. But not as much as we used to, since, you know. Evil Monster Kenzi." She pressed a little closer to Hardison to hide that shudder. "And your place... it's bigger, and it smells nice, and there'd be all Hardison's stuff, but really I only need a closet for my gear, and..." She paused and looked at Hardison. "And we thought we'd ask. At least."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had to smile at that. Asking first wasn't actually something either of them really excelled at, when it came to other people's property.

Since, you know, thieves.

"I 'preciate that. And yeah, you two are welcome to it. I kinda thought you already knew that." How much of their stuff already lived at his place? "Thought -- I dunno. You still wanted. . . ." Yeah, it sounded dumb when he said it out loud. "Yeah. I mean, I still don't want a giant mess of tech in my living room. That's supposed to be a nice, peaceful place. But -- yeah. Yes. Move in with me." How many times in one statement was he going to say yes, here? His smile just kept wanting to get bigger each time. "Yes."

[age_of_the_geek]

"I promise I won't leave all my tech stuff in your livin' room," Hardison said, deliberately not looking at all the tech strewn about their living room. "But either I'mma need a place to stash it or you're gon' be real upset about the state of the bedroom."

Did they really need to eat in the dining room?

"An' we'll have to figure out a way so it's less...us encroachin' on your space an' more alla us makin' a home together, but...yeah. I'd like that a lot. The three of us together. Like we're s'posed to be."