75 Godiva, Saturday night

[vdistinctive]

Eliot considered swinging by the diner to get his spare change of clothes, but honestly, all he wanted was a nice, hot shower in his own damn bathroom. He'd been in worse spots, certainly, and for much longer.

But he wasn't sure he'd ever been in weirderVal went barrelling over as soon as he put his key in the door, and he swooped down to scoop

Comments

[age_of_the_geek]

Hardison looked up from his computer, not looking like a man who'd been out of his head with worry about his errant partner. So either Kathy was right about a note or Eliot really needed to reassess his relationships.

"Well, hail the conquerin' hero," Hardison said, his hand up to his forehead as he pretended to swoon. "Comin' home from his adventures an'...in damn need of a shower."

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, I hear ya been braggin' 'bout me on the radio in my absence." Eliot set Val back down and came over to drape his grubby self as much over Hardison as he could get away with. "Somethin' about a note?"

[age_of_the_geek]

"Man, man, get off me," Hardison complained, batting at Eliot in such a way that suggested he was actually pretty pleased with having his boyfriend draped over him, but certain images needed to be upheld. "An' yeah. Why wouldn't I brag that my boy finally learned how to write a damn note. Not that it mentioned you'd be swimmin' through all the sewage in Guam."

[vdistinctive]

". . . Yeah, 'bout that." Eliot sighed, resting his chin against Hardison's head and sighing like he was set to take a nap right there. "I didn't leave a note."

[age_of_the_geek]

"What're you talkin' about?" Hardison asked. "We found it!"

[vdistinctive]

"Where?" Eliot asked. "Do ya still have it?"

[age_of_the_geek]

"Of course!" Hardison said, pointing towards the kitchen. "It's on the fridge. We weren't gonna throw out Boyfriend's First Useful Note! We were proud of it."

[vdistinctive]

"I didn't --" Eliot broke off with a sigh, then shuffled over to take a look at the note (he was missing that left shoe). The sigh when he saw the actual note was much heavier and more growly. ". . . Y'all didn't happen to notice that this is signed 'hairy anger man,' didja?"

[age_of_the_geek]

"We were impressed with your self-awareness," Hardison told him. "An' possibly that you'd given enough of an explanation that we didn't look too far."

[vdistinctive]

"An' apparently you thought I mighta been drunk," Eliot said. "Since the handwriting even actually looks like it was written by gremlins."

[age_of_the_geek]

"Figured you were probably tryna write with your off-hand or somethin'," Hardison admitted. "Like, practicin' in case you ever had to be a left-handed doctor or somethin'."

[vdistinctive]

"I mean. I'm glad y'all weren't panicin'. But. Seriously?!"

[age_of_the_geek]

"You're right," Hardison said, nodding solemnly. "We shoulda realized it wasn't you cause of how many details it included."

[vdistinctive]

"Shoulda stayed kidnapped by gremlins," Eliot grumbled.

[age_of_the_geek]

"But then you never woulda gotten..." Hardison looked at the Dite's bag Eliot was carrying, confused. "Did they give you the bag too?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot looked down at the bag, then back up at Hardison. "Nope."

Aren't you so glad you're committed to this asshole, Hardison?