geniuswithasmartphone | 75 Godiva Street, Superbowl Sunday

Hardison was grinning as he lugged the second screen into Eliot's living room. "Eliot! Yo, Eliot, where you at? Guess what!" Dropping his voice, he added to Parker, who was carrying her own load of chips and foam fingers, "He ain't never gonna guess."

Probably because most people wouldn't assume that their partners would just decide to throw a Superbowl party at their house without prior agreement. But Hardison wasn't going to let something like that stop him. If he hadn't been stymied by Eliot's lack of TVs, he wasn't going to be bothered by something like this, either.

Eliot leaned against the door jam and stared at the televisions coming in through the door. "For the last time, Hardison, I ain't lettin' you set up your six screen office thing in here."

Parker waved a foam finger at him. It was bright blue and orange and bigger than she was. “We’re here for the party! I brought the snacks. So you can just relax and not have to worry about being the host.”

Eliot opened his mouth, pointed at the foam finger, then let his head drop into his hands. "Of course you are."

"C'mon, mama, we talked about this," Hardison reminded. "We ask first. Yo, Eliot, you mind if we borrow your house for a Superbowl party? Our place is too small to fit a lot of people." Look, Eliot! He wasn't even putting up the screens while he was asking! Sure, he was subtly running a stud-finder over the walls to make sure they could be hung properly, but that was all!

"It's also traditional not to just show up with the supplies like you know I'm already gonna say yes." Don't be dumb, Eliot. They completely already knew you were going to say yes.

“There’s going to be puppies.” Parker had gotten some very unclear ideas about how the Super Bowl worked. “And maybe kittens. Val will like that!” Look, she even used your preferred name for your dog!

Of course they did. But they still asked. Even if the discussion before they left the house had ended with a 'Let's go steal a living room.' That was just tradition at work, okay? "So, I figure we'll have the big, big screen with the game on it, an' then the other slightly-smaller big screen have the Puppybowl. Then everybody's happy an' got somethin' to watch. Also, for refreshments, look what I found!"

Beaming, Hardison pulled out a six pack of Thief Juice. "We can introduce the island to it!"

Poor Eliot. He was doomed. Had been for years. "I am not hosting," he said. "I am not cleaning. I am not responsible for any part of this, and if anything breaks, I'm holdin' you two personally responsible."

Parker bopped him on the head with the foam finger, grinning. “Super Bowl!”

[Open to the all the townies of the island. Invites send out ~~handwavily~~ over email. Co-written with the wonderful

vdistinctive and

whoisalicewhite! OCD up, come one come all!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

It's a Fandom tradition!

From:

whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com

"Have a finger." Parker was giving people foam toys. Mostly in the hope that there would be a foam thumb war at some point, since she didn't get what else you would want to do with them.

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

"Gimme one of them black an' blue ones," Hardison called. "I'mma Panther, obviously. Sleek, black, an' handsome."

From:

whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com

"Obviously!" Parker grinned and threw one to him, then said, "I'm saving the horses for Pinkie. It kind of doesn't seem fair. Wild cats versus horses."

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

"Big cats," Hardison pointed out, knowing how Parker felt about horses. "Jungle cats. Predators against herbivores."

From:

whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com

Parker hummed, thinking. "Well. I suppose that could work. Claws and all. And horses would look like food to them." Mollified a bit she added, "Do we get anything if our team wins?"

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

"The satisfaction of knowin' we were right?" Hardison said. "An' money, but only if we bet."

And why would they bet on football, especially if Eliot wasn't playing?

From:

whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com

So true. IF Eliot were playing, it would be a sure thing, so it would be like stealing. Anything else was just too weirdly risky.

"I'm not sure why people get so into it. It's not like your TV shows. Somebody wins. Somebody loses. Predictable, kinda."

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

It's a Superbowl tradition!

There are wings, pizzas, a staggering assortment of chips and dips, gummy frogs, plenty of beer (including a six-pack of beer labeled Thief Juice! It's a mouth crime!) and a bunch of ~~moddable~~ other snacks. Dig in!

From:

vdistinctive

Eliot may have declared that he had no part in hosting this party, but he was still Eliot. So he was still whipping up some dips with the absurd amount of fresh ingredients he just happened to keep in his kitchen.

So have some fresh guacamole. And refried beans. And french onion made with actual onion instead of powdered soup. And many, many others.

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

"Eliot, weird question," Hardison said, very innocently. "You ain't happen to have any of those fried squash blossoms or that aoili I really like handy, do you? I was thinkin' that it might be nice to get some hamburgers from the diner or whatever an' was hopin' you had some of that stuff to put on 'em."

From:

vdistinctive

The look Eliot gave Hardison was deeply withering. "It's February, Hardison. You see any flowers on anything?" So no, no squash blossoms. "Aioli's in the fridge."

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

Hardison opened the fridge and snagged the aioli. And several other things that looked especially tasty. Some of them even had vegetables, so he was pretty sure Eliot wouldn't complain about him grabbing them. "I can still get strawberries an' green beans at the grocery store an' it's February," he pointed out. "Why shouldn't squash blossoms be there, too?"

From:

vdistinctive

"Yeah, and the tomatoes you buy at the store right now taste like gym socks. Things have seasons for a reason, Hardison."

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

"Because at one time, humankind was not the ruler of all it surveyed, but fortunately now we have technology to make our dominion complete?" Hardison suggested. He didn't think that was what Eliot was getting at, but there was always hope.

From:

vdistinctive

"Gym. Socks."

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

"So you're sayin I shouldn't eat veggies then?" Hardison asked. "Cause that was my idea all along, but you get grumpy."

From:

vdistinctive

"You know, I know you're a genius. But you act like such an idiot."

From:

geniuswithasmartphone

Hardison beamed. Eliot had called him a genius.

"Okay then," he said with a laugh, "be straight with me. Which gets Eliot's seal of approval then, huh? A hamburger with gym sock tomatoes on it, or ketchup?"