The Everlasting- Epilogue
Title: The Everlasting
Rating: R
Spoilers: Up through end of season 2
Pairing: Alec Hardison/ Eliot Spencer
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, don't take this too seriously.
Summary: It's not really the end of the world, it just looks that way.
A/N: YAAAAAY IT'S FINALLY COMPLETE!!!! Thanks, all, for reading!!!
Story starts here
"Come on," Parker said to Eliot, catching him loitering on the cot, idly flipping through a British tabloid one of the crew had given him. "Work to do, chop chop," she clapped her hands together awkwardly.
Finally.
He sat up, stretched, and tossed the magazine aside, then changed his mind, setting it on the bed in case Alec woke up any time soon. "Nate put you up to this?"
"Only after Sophie put him up to this. There's still literally tons of stuff that needs to get off this ship, and they want us to find a secure place for all of it." She rolled her eyes. "Like we're supposed to be able to find a location that we can't break into? Please."
Eliot smirked, followed her out towards the stairs. "Yeah. I can't see why they'd want us on it, either."
---
The doctors were worried about infection setting in. After the first week, Alec was more concerned about the onset of total bugfuck insanity.
Eliot tried to make up for it with news from the outside world, and kisses once he'd run out of words, but he'd sided with the doctors, the traitorous bastard.
---
By the end of the week, the numbers came out.
Thirty-seven people had died in the fight. Eleven of them were locals, and to be honest, Eliot didn't give a damn about the ones who'd fought for Cornelius.
And it could've been worse, Eliot knew it, but another few hours, better timing, and it could have been bloodless.
Once upon a time, even at his most out of control, Nate's plans never would have hinged on people dying in the street. Nate tried to talk to him about it, once, but Eliot hadn't let him. Maybe it was the time in prison, maybe it was the months of hell they'd all gone through, but Nate had changed.
Eliot didn't need a fucking apology. It was over with, done. They'd survived.
---
The ship was apparently called the Ark Royal, and it was a week and a half before Alec was able to see more of it than one single stretch of ceiling and two caged fluorescent bulbs. It was nice getting out, chatting with Sophie as she pushed his chair, but really, with a name like that, the ship should've been cooler looking. More swirling gold trim and painted walls.
Alec missed painting, now that he thought about it, but the view from the deck kind of sucked, anyway.
---
It took two and a half weeks for the doctors to finally release him.
The novelty of sitting in the truck was enough that it wasn't until Eliot's muttered, "we're home," that Alec realized they'd pulled up in front of McRory's.
The stairs were a bitch, and there was a funny smell on the second floor landing, but his own apartment looked suspiciously clean. Cleaner than it had probably been when he'd had a functioning vacuum cleaner.
He tried to show his appreciation, finally felt Eliot's skin bare against his own, but after the third time he felt his stomach scream, they gave up, fell asleep on the couch.
It wasn't until he woke up the next morning, though, with Eliot curled around him, that the place felt remotely like home.
---
Alec really didn't think about it until he was down at the post office, doing the mail. Reaching into the drawer, he came up with an ammo clip instead of a stapler.
Eliot found him sitting in the stairwell a while later, still trying to get his breathing under control. Didn't talk, just sat on the step above him, his breath ghosting against Alec's neck as he took the clip out of his hands, setting it aside.
"Don't need this, anymore. Okay?"
He sounded pretty confident about it, so Alec nodded.
---
Eliot picked the locks he could, but wound up kicking down a lot of doors, mask firmly in place. It blocked most of the smell, but it didn't help, much. He'd moved bodies before, more than his fair share, so he'd volunteered when the call came out.
In a house over on Chestnut Street, there was a woman. No way to tell how long she'd been there, but it had been a few months. Her face was gone, but the gun was still in her hand.
Behind a locked door in the basement were seventeen children moldering into the floor, walls, into each other. They fell sickly apart in his hands when he tried to move them.
Alec asked him about it when he got home, but he couldn't find the fucking words.
The next morning, Eliot reported for his shift as usual, and wondered why he even bothered.
---
The first time it snowed, Eliot grumbled and said something about wanting to go to Australia. Somewhere warm. That's all he meant by it. He hadn't thought it would piss Alec off so damned much.
By the time Alec stormed out, slamming the door behind him, Eliot was ready to actually start packing his bags.
Alec apologized first. Eliot followed suit. Nothing was really settled.
---
Parker left a few days before Christmas, with a glint in her eye that she wouldn't talk about. Said she had something she needed to do, alone, and that she'd be back soon. She promised she'd be careful.
They couldn't change her mind.
---
They went downstairs for Christmas dinner with Nate and Sophie. Exchanged presents of orange soda, beer, whiskey and wine, and nobody said anything when they caught anyone else looking at the empty chair at the end of the table.
Eliot had no idea what he would have gotten her, but he would've liked the chance to try.
---
The nightmares never really went away, but they could turn the lights on, now, if they wanted to, during the nights where skin wasn't enough to calm them.
---
It was nearly noon on New Year's Day. Eliot was half-listening to the shortwave when he heard a woman reporting that as an optimistic gesture, the MoMA in New York had re-opened for the first time since the pulse hit.
"When they first regained access to the building two weeks ago to begin repairs to the electrical and security systems, staff reported that they'd found nothing stolen or seriously damaged, much to their relief. This morning, however, as members of the public followed staff inside, after a brief speech on the front steps, they were astounded to discover that all the paintings had been removed from the walls, and were arranged on the floors of the galleries. Taken room by room, from top to bottom, the arrangements spelled out the words, "I've missed you terribly."
The real mystery, it seems, is that absolutely nothing was stolen, and truth be told, many of today's visitors believed it to be a deliberate move on the museum's part, and even an hour ago, one could see children running from gallery to gallery...
Eliot brought the radio with him into the bedroom, shaking Alec awake. He turned up the volume a notch, explaining, "You've got to hear this."
"… and head curator, Geoffrey Amis, has been quoted as saying that he couldn’t understand why someone would break into the museum only after the security measures were once again in place. The paintings are already being returned to their rightful places, but pictures have been taken and will be on display in the lobby, so that everyone may get an eyeful of this mysterious, but hopeful, message."
Alec blinked, still too close to sleep, and probably too hungover, to really understand.
"It's Parker. She's fine."
Alec rolled his head back into the pillow, smiling. "Least things are starting to get back to normal, right? Cool, cool…hey, we have any aspirin left?"
---
It was cold out, but the snow had finally stopped and the sky was clear. Bright, too, for this time of night. Wrapping his arms around Eliot's hips, he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.
"You hear? We're getting the streetlights up next week. Permanently."
"Yeah. Mica said. Almost a shame, though." Eliot leaned back against him. "I mean, that sky. Soon as the lights are on, won't be able to see 'em, any more."
Alec blinked, tried to remember what it looked like when the stars weren't so damned bright, and failed. Instead he turned his consideration to Eliot, who apparently was the stargazing type, at least as long as Alec didn't tease him, point it out, or confirm- in any way- that he'd noticed.
Besides, there was this part of him, this small, quiet part in the back of his head, that got nervous when Eliot starting thinking about things that were so far away.
He put a smile on, though, tugged him inside, and did everything he could to keep him here for a little while longer.
---
The snow was finally starting to melt, and Nate and Sophie were heading out to England. They'd promised they'd be back, but Sophie's eyes had been distant for a few weeks now, like she was trying to see over the horizon.
Eliot couldn't blame her, not really. He got it. The winter had been tiring, long, hard and cold, and three weeks into a winter blackout, well. She could do better elsewhere.
They all could, probably.
"There's room if you want," Nate offered, as five of them cut through the corner of the park. "JFK is opening for business in three days, and we've got the money. Get you all out of here."
Parker scoffed. "Are you kidding? Every secure building in town is upgrading the systems they were using before the pulse, and some of these systems only came out in the last few months. Downtown's never been this fun, and I'm already behind!"
"They're reinitializing the grid," Alec explained, when it was his turn, waving a hand towards downtown with a sidelong glance at Eliot. "I'm helping them with the stabilization, and they're almost ready to get some of the public servers up and running, so… I'm staying. Age of the geek is back, man." He winced, then, like he didn't like hearing himself say it.
Nate nodded. "Eliot? What about you?"
All too aware of Parker's stare and Alec's sudden fascination with the slush at the side of the road, Eliot actually stopped to look around consider.
He could see the burned out school from here, and the apartment building where they'd found seven bodies stashed in the guest room.
God, he wanted to leave.
There wasn't anything he was needed for, here, any more, not really. Most of the buildings in the area were habitable enough for now. His people were safe. The fighting was done. And the rest of the world was still out there, going.
Soon, though, the ground would be thawed enough to dig, and there would be sod to cut and gardens to plant.
And Alec was staying.
Fuck everything else.
"As soon as the internet's set up again, I give it three weeks, tops, before Hardison, here, manages to use it to piss off somebody bigger than him, so…"
Nate and Sophie both nodded, as if he'd been expecting the answer all along, and Parker studiously followed suit.
Alec, however, was stunned. Wary, and Eliot was left wondering, for a moment, if he was going to have to come up with some potentially embarrassing proclamations to convince him.
Apparently his face was enough, though, because a moment later Alec was grabbing his shoulders, pulling him close so quickly that Eliot stumbled right into the kiss.
For a moment, all he knew was Alec's mouth against his own, the shaking fingers threading around his nape, and the suspicion that any minute now, they were both going to fall on their asses.
His suspicions weren't wrong, he realized, landing gracelessly on top of Alec. As surprising as it was, though, his first thought was that Nate wasn't going to let them hear the end of this. His second was that he'd never know, unable to hear much of anything over Parker's snorting laughter.
Sophie, for her part, was starting to make cooing noises behind him, and damn it, now he was pretty sure he was starting to blush. But now that the shock was wearing off, Alec came through with a distraction, sputtering.
"All right, all right, this is awesome and everything, but right now, I have very cold slush soaking through my pants, so- get off me, man!" Eliot rocked back and rose, giving him room to sputter his way back to his feet as he continued. "So we're gonna have to move this party inside. Ah! Cold!"
"Ah, think we'll just leave you guys to it," Nate coughed. "But thanks for the invite."
---
Alec knew he was bitching up a storm all the way back to the apartment, but seriously? This sucked.
Okay, it didn't, not really. Not at all, what with Eliot shoving him forward through the door, already looking smug.
"The hell're you smiling about?" He shouldered off his jacket and tossed it on the floor, hands already moving to his belt, too intent putting a humane distance between himself and the wet clothes to notice much of anything else.
So when Eliot's hand pressed up against his chest, it might have startled him a bit, but that was nothing compared to the want he found in Eliot's eyes.
"I love you," Alec blurted, idiotically, his thoughts rolling right into mitigation strategies before he really had time to notice.
Eliot, though, he didn't miss anything. He froze, for half an instant, and said, "Yeah. Love you too," like it was something he said every day. And then, in a brilliant move designed to fast-forward through the awkwardness, he said, "Pants. Off. Now. You're dripping all over me."
---
"I bought you a laptop," Eliot admitted into Alec's neck, distracting him through the stretch as he held himself in position, arms bracketing Alec's sides. "Back before it all went down." Alec released a breath, and Eliot pushed in, further. Just a bit. "Had to trade it for passage to the states, though," and a little bit more, and he was in. He let himself sink down his chest was against Alec's back. Kissed him behind his ear, too, deliberately distracting.
He thought that what he meant to say was I always meant to come back but he finished his explanation anyway, "so I still owe you."
"I'll hold you to that," Alec said, a little tense, and his fingers wound in between Eliot's, squeezing tight as he acclimated.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." Eliot could feel him breathing, making himself relax. In, out, again, and then, "Okay. Move."
So he did. Neither of them said anything that made much sense after that. Not for a while.
---
Eliot was covered in dirt, and heading straight for the bathroom the moment he was through the door, so Alec followed, talking loudly over the shower.
"How'd it go?"
"Everything's planted," Eliot said, a shadow behind the curtain. "Finally ready to go."
"Cool, cool. Don't know if you're interested, but there's a party going down at City Hall tonight. Kind of a holy shit, we made it sort of thing. Probably going to be one or two boring speeches, but Nate and Sophie managed to bring back a truly impressive amount of alcohol for the event. You down?"
"Huh?" Eliot peered out around the edge of the curtain, scowling in confusion. "Yeah. Maybe." A moment later, he was back again, surprise having taken over. "Seriously? It's been a year already?"
"What do you mean already? Man, this was, like, the longest year of my life."
"Only 'cause you're not used to waiting for the mail," Eliot muttered, then cocked his head to the side. "So, what. You're just gonna stand there?"
"I was thinking I might wait here and render my services once you're out. I'm awesome with a towel. Songs have been written."
"Seriously, man?" Alec could see the eye roll through the shower curtain. He was that good, but Eliot remained unimpressed. "We'll just end up needing another shower. You might as well get your ass in here if we're gonna make it down there on time."
---
They wound up missing the speeches anyway.
They didn't miss a damned thing.
---
THE END
Rating: R
Spoilers: Up through end of season 2
Pairing: Alec Hardison/ Eliot Spencer
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, don't take this too seriously.
Summary: It's not really the end of the world, it just looks that way.
A/N: YAAAAAY IT'S FINALLY COMPLETE!!!! Thanks, all, for reading!!!
Story starts here
"Come on," Parker said to Eliot, catching him loitering on the cot, idly flipping through a British tabloid one of the crew had given him. "Work to do, chop chop," she clapped her hands together awkwardly.
Finally.
He sat up, stretched, and tossed the magazine aside, then changed his mind, setting it on the bed in case Alec woke up any time soon. "Nate put you up to this?"
"Only after Sophie put him up to this. There's still literally tons of stuff that needs to get off this ship, and they want us to find a secure place for all of it." She rolled her eyes. "Like we're supposed to be able to find a location that we can't break into? Please."
Eliot smirked, followed her out towards the stairs. "Yeah. I can't see why they'd want us on it, either."
---
The doctors were worried about infection setting in. After the first week, Alec was more concerned about the onset of total bugfuck insanity.
Eliot tried to make up for it with news from the outside world, and kisses once he'd run out of words, but he'd sided with the doctors, the traitorous bastard.
---
By the end of the week, the numbers came out.
Thirty-seven people had died in the fight. Eleven of them were locals, and to be honest, Eliot didn't give a damn about the ones who'd fought for Cornelius.
And it could've been worse, Eliot knew it, but another few hours, better timing, and it could have been bloodless.
Once upon a time, even at his most out of control, Nate's plans never would have hinged on people dying in the street. Nate tried to talk to him about it, once, but Eliot hadn't let him. Maybe it was the time in prison, maybe it was the months of hell they'd all gone through, but Nate had changed.
Eliot didn't need a fucking apology. It was over with, done. They'd survived.
---
The ship was apparently called the Ark Royal, and it was a week and a half before Alec was able to see more of it than one single stretch of ceiling and two caged fluorescent bulbs. It was nice getting out, chatting with Sophie as she pushed his chair, but really, with a name like that, the ship should've been cooler looking. More swirling gold trim and painted walls.
Alec missed painting, now that he thought about it, but the view from the deck kind of sucked, anyway.
---
It took two and a half weeks for the doctors to finally release him.
The novelty of sitting in the truck was enough that it wasn't until Eliot's muttered, "we're home," that Alec realized they'd pulled up in front of McRory's.
The stairs were a bitch, and there was a funny smell on the second floor landing, but his own apartment looked suspiciously clean. Cleaner than it had probably been when he'd had a functioning vacuum cleaner.
He tried to show his appreciation, finally felt Eliot's skin bare against his own, but after the third time he felt his stomach scream, they gave up, fell asleep on the couch.
It wasn't until he woke up the next morning, though, with Eliot curled around him, that the place felt remotely like home.
---
Alec really didn't think about it until he was down at the post office, doing the mail. Reaching into the drawer, he came up with an ammo clip instead of a stapler.
Eliot found him sitting in the stairwell a while later, still trying to get his breathing under control. Didn't talk, just sat on the step above him, his breath ghosting against Alec's neck as he took the clip out of his hands, setting it aside.
"Don't need this, anymore. Okay?"
He sounded pretty confident about it, so Alec nodded.
---
Eliot picked the locks he could, but wound up kicking down a lot of doors, mask firmly in place. It blocked most of the smell, but it didn't help, much. He'd moved bodies before, more than his fair share, so he'd volunteered when the call came out.
In a house over on Chestnut Street, there was a woman. No way to tell how long she'd been there, but it had been a few months. Her face was gone, but the gun was still in her hand.
Behind a locked door in the basement were seventeen children moldering into the floor, walls, into each other. They fell sickly apart in his hands when he tried to move them.
Alec asked him about it when he got home, but he couldn't find the fucking words.
The next morning, Eliot reported for his shift as usual, and wondered why he even bothered.
---
The first time it snowed, Eliot grumbled and said something about wanting to go to Australia. Somewhere warm. That's all he meant by it. He hadn't thought it would piss Alec off so damned much.
By the time Alec stormed out, slamming the door behind him, Eliot was ready to actually start packing his bags.
Alec apologized first. Eliot followed suit. Nothing was really settled.
---
Parker left a few days before Christmas, with a glint in her eye that she wouldn't talk about. Said she had something she needed to do, alone, and that she'd be back soon. She promised she'd be careful.
They couldn't change her mind.
---
They went downstairs for Christmas dinner with Nate and Sophie. Exchanged presents of orange soda, beer, whiskey and wine, and nobody said anything when they caught anyone else looking at the empty chair at the end of the table.
Eliot had no idea what he would have gotten her, but he would've liked the chance to try.
---
The nightmares never really went away, but they could turn the lights on, now, if they wanted to, during the nights where skin wasn't enough to calm them.
---
It was nearly noon on New Year's Day. Eliot was half-listening to the shortwave when he heard a woman reporting that as an optimistic gesture, the MoMA in New York had re-opened for the first time since the pulse hit.
"When they first regained access to the building two weeks ago to begin repairs to the electrical and security systems, staff reported that they'd found nothing stolen or seriously damaged, much to their relief. This morning, however, as members of the public followed staff inside, after a brief speech on the front steps, they were astounded to discover that all the paintings had been removed from the walls, and were arranged on the floors of the galleries. Taken room by room, from top to bottom, the arrangements spelled out the words, "I've missed you terribly."
The real mystery, it seems, is that absolutely nothing was stolen, and truth be told, many of today's visitors believed it to be a deliberate move on the museum's part, and even an hour ago, one could see children running from gallery to gallery...
Eliot brought the radio with him into the bedroom, shaking Alec awake. He turned up the volume a notch, explaining, "You've got to hear this."
"… and head curator, Geoffrey Amis, has been quoted as saying that he couldn’t understand why someone would break into the museum only after the security measures were once again in place. The paintings are already being returned to their rightful places, but pictures have been taken and will be on display in the lobby, so that everyone may get an eyeful of this mysterious, but hopeful, message."
Alec blinked, still too close to sleep, and probably too hungover, to really understand.
"It's Parker. She's fine."
Alec rolled his head back into the pillow, smiling. "Least things are starting to get back to normal, right? Cool, cool…hey, we have any aspirin left?"
---
It was cold out, but the snow had finally stopped and the sky was clear. Bright, too, for this time of night. Wrapping his arms around Eliot's hips, he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.
"You hear? We're getting the streetlights up next week. Permanently."
"Yeah. Mica said. Almost a shame, though." Eliot leaned back against him. "I mean, that sky. Soon as the lights are on, won't be able to see 'em, any more."
Alec blinked, tried to remember what it looked like when the stars weren't so damned bright, and failed. Instead he turned his consideration to Eliot, who apparently was the stargazing type, at least as long as Alec didn't tease him, point it out, or confirm- in any way- that he'd noticed.
Besides, there was this part of him, this small, quiet part in the back of his head, that got nervous when Eliot starting thinking about things that were so far away.
He put a smile on, though, tugged him inside, and did everything he could to keep him here for a little while longer.
---
The snow was finally starting to melt, and Nate and Sophie were heading out to England. They'd promised they'd be back, but Sophie's eyes had been distant for a few weeks now, like she was trying to see over the horizon.
Eliot couldn't blame her, not really. He got it. The winter had been tiring, long, hard and cold, and three weeks into a winter blackout, well. She could do better elsewhere.
They all could, probably.
"There's room if you want," Nate offered, as five of them cut through the corner of the park. "JFK is opening for business in three days, and we've got the money. Get you all out of here."
Parker scoffed. "Are you kidding? Every secure building in town is upgrading the systems they were using before the pulse, and some of these systems only came out in the last few months. Downtown's never been this fun, and I'm already behind!"
"They're reinitializing the grid," Alec explained, when it was his turn, waving a hand towards downtown with a sidelong glance at Eliot. "I'm helping them with the stabilization, and they're almost ready to get some of the public servers up and running, so… I'm staying. Age of the geek is back, man." He winced, then, like he didn't like hearing himself say it.
Nate nodded. "Eliot? What about you?"
All too aware of Parker's stare and Alec's sudden fascination with the slush at the side of the road, Eliot actually stopped to look around consider.
He could see the burned out school from here, and the apartment building where they'd found seven bodies stashed in the guest room.
God, he wanted to leave.
There wasn't anything he was needed for, here, any more, not really. Most of the buildings in the area were habitable enough for now. His people were safe. The fighting was done. And the rest of the world was still out there, going.
Soon, though, the ground would be thawed enough to dig, and there would be sod to cut and gardens to plant.
And Alec was staying.
Fuck everything else.
"As soon as the internet's set up again, I give it three weeks, tops, before Hardison, here, manages to use it to piss off somebody bigger than him, so…"
Nate and Sophie both nodded, as if he'd been expecting the answer all along, and Parker studiously followed suit.
Alec, however, was stunned. Wary, and Eliot was left wondering, for a moment, if he was going to have to come up with some potentially embarrassing proclamations to convince him.
Apparently his face was enough, though, because a moment later Alec was grabbing his shoulders, pulling him close so quickly that Eliot stumbled right into the kiss.
For a moment, all he knew was Alec's mouth against his own, the shaking fingers threading around his nape, and the suspicion that any minute now, they were both going to fall on their asses.
His suspicions weren't wrong, he realized, landing gracelessly on top of Alec. As surprising as it was, though, his first thought was that Nate wasn't going to let them hear the end of this. His second was that he'd never know, unable to hear much of anything over Parker's snorting laughter.
Sophie, for her part, was starting to make cooing noises behind him, and damn it, now he was pretty sure he was starting to blush. But now that the shock was wearing off, Alec came through with a distraction, sputtering.
"All right, all right, this is awesome and everything, but right now, I have very cold slush soaking through my pants, so- get off me, man!" Eliot rocked back and rose, giving him room to sputter his way back to his feet as he continued. "So we're gonna have to move this party inside. Ah! Cold!"
"Ah, think we'll just leave you guys to it," Nate coughed. "But thanks for the invite."
---
Alec knew he was bitching up a storm all the way back to the apartment, but seriously? This sucked.
Okay, it didn't, not really. Not at all, what with Eliot shoving him forward through the door, already looking smug.
"The hell're you smiling about?" He shouldered off his jacket and tossed it on the floor, hands already moving to his belt, too intent putting a humane distance between himself and the wet clothes to notice much of anything else.
So when Eliot's hand pressed up against his chest, it might have startled him a bit, but that was nothing compared to the want he found in Eliot's eyes.
"I love you," Alec blurted, idiotically, his thoughts rolling right into mitigation strategies before he really had time to notice.
Eliot, though, he didn't miss anything. He froze, for half an instant, and said, "Yeah. Love you too," like it was something he said every day. And then, in a brilliant move designed to fast-forward through the awkwardness, he said, "Pants. Off. Now. You're dripping all over me."
---
"I bought you a laptop," Eliot admitted into Alec's neck, distracting him through the stretch as he held himself in position, arms bracketing Alec's sides. "Back before it all went down." Alec released a breath, and Eliot pushed in, further. Just a bit. "Had to trade it for passage to the states, though," and a little bit more, and he was in. He let himself sink down his chest was against Alec's back. Kissed him behind his ear, too, deliberately distracting.
He thought that what he meant to say was I always meant to come back but he finished his explanation anyway, "so I still owe you."
"I'll hold you to that," Alec said, a little tense, and his fingers wound in between Eliot's, squeezing tight as he acclimated.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." Eliot could feel him breathing, making himself relax. In, out, again, and then, "Okay. Move."
So he did. Neither of them said anything that made much sense after that. Not for a while.
---
Eliot was covered in dirt, and heading straight for the bathroom the moment he was through the door, so Alec followed, talking loudly over the shower.
"How'd it go?"
"Everything's planted," Eliot said, a shadow behind the curtain. "Finally ready to go."
"Cool, cool. Don't know if you're interested, but there's a party going down at City Hall tonight. Kind of a holy shit, we made it sort of thing. Probably going to be one or two boring speeches, but Nate and Sophie managed to bring back a truly impressive amount of alcohol for the event. You down?"
"Huh?" Eliot peered out around the edge of the curtain, scowling in confusion. "Yeah. Maybe." A moment later, he was back again, surprise having taken over. "Seriously? It's been a year already?"
"What do you mean already? Man, this was, like, the longest year of my life."
"Only 'cause you're not used to waiting for the mail," Eliot muttered, then cocked his head to the side. "So, what. You're just gonna stand there?"
"I was thinking I might wait here and render my services once you're out. I'm awesome with a towel. Songs have been written."
"Seriously, man?" Alec could see the eye roll through the shower curtain. He was that good, but Eliot remained unimpressed. "We'll just end up needing another shower. You might as well get your ass in here if we're gonna make it down there on time."
---
They wound up missing the speeches anyway.
They didn't miss a damned thing.
---
THE END