75 Godiva Street, Monday Afternoon

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Another weird weekend and Hardison wasn't entirely sure what to do with it. Being a teen seemed a lot more fraught than being a little kid and that wasn't even taking getting beaten up by a tiny version of his boyfriend into account.

But that wasn't the main issue on his mind right now. Hardison was looking at the howling wasteland that was their kitchen and shaking his head. Tiny!Parker had kindly left some of his sodas behind during her burglary spree, but not much else.

"How'm I supposed to get breakfast?" Hardison asked Val, who was sitting by his feet. "No bowls, no fridge--I'm pretty sure she even stripped the countertops!"

Hopefully she hadn't gotten very far with their belongings, or Eliot was going to have to remodel their kitchen. Again.

[Open! Will pickup pings when I'm conscious again.]

Comments

[vdistinctive]

Eliot gave a small nod, and exhaled through his nose in what might almost be called a laugh, if the circumstances were different.

"Real breakfast," he said. "I'm guessing you ain't ate much more than ice cream in awhile."

[whoisalicewhite]

"There were chips," Parker admitted, shifting from foot to foot. "At Steve and Tony's party." She paused and bumped into him, watching him closely. "Did you eat? After I ran away?"

[vdistinctive]

"I was a teenage boy, darlin'," Eliot said, leaning into that bump a little. "It takes a lot to keep 'em from eating."

[whoisalicewhite]

"Good," Parker nodded firmly. Then hesitated. "He-- you-- didn't scare me. That's not why I ran away. Just so you know."

[vdistinctive]

"I probably should have," Eliot said. "But nah, I gather I just managed to piss you off."

[whoisalicewhite]

"Yeah. And after I talked to little Alec, I was going to lay all these traps here in the house. It's-- a good thing you didn't come back." And that she'd had time to take them down yesterday. So. Sorry, not sorry?"

[vdistinctive]

"Traps," Eliot said. He rubbed his forehead. "Fucking hell."

He'd been a real piece of work as a teen.

[whoisalicewhite]

To be fair, so had Parker. She'd just been an un-aimed primed grenade, unlike Eliot, who was being pointed at everything not 'normal.'

"They probably wouldn't have killed you," Parker added, trying to reassure him. "But there would have been trips to the Clinic." She frowned, looking over at Hardison. "Which might have been fair. But." Okay, whose side was she supposed to be on here? Could she not be on someone's side?

[vdistinctive]

Eliot wasn't on Eliot's side on this, so he couldn't blame Parker for not being there.

"More'n fair," Eliot said. "Just -- how fucked up do you gotta be at fifteen that someone thinks setting traps is the best way to deal with you?"

Eliot was used to being the guy with the fucked up past. He'd somehow managed to let him forget that some of it predated his career as a soldier.

[whoisalicewhite]

"Well.... I kind of set traps on reflex, back then. Especially in what was supposed to be my own space."

Please to be remembering the warehouse she was sleeping in, about the third year you guys were working together, Eliot.

"But. I knew I couldn't take you in a straight fight."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had actually managed to catch Parker in a snare trap once. He had no leg to stand on in this conversation.

"I ain't blaming you, darlin'. I'm saying I was that big of a mess."

[whoisalicewhite]

"You really were kinda screwy." Parker shrugged one shoulder. "How did you change so much?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot shrugged. "I lived. 'Sbeen almost 30 years."

[whoisalicewhite]

"So just time. And not really being a complete dumbass underneath."

[vdistinctive]

“I was fifteen. Dumbass kinda comes with the territory. Plus — I defend where I grew up to folks who weren’t raised there but folks like us, we weren’t exactly welcome back then and there. If it’d Gotten out I liked boys ... well. I mighta seemed like the rational one.”

[whoisalicewhite]

"Whyyyy?" Parker asked, baffled. And boggled. "Why would they care? Why does everyone have to be 'normal'?"

She'd never understood that when she was in foster care, either.

[vdistinctive]

“Dunno, darlin’. You seemed pretty freaked out by me yourself, though, even before I — you know.”

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker shifted away, then toward him, uncomfortable. "Before you beat up Hardison." Might as well say it. "And that was because you were a guy. That I woke up with, and didn't remember. You were a threat. And then you were being all bossy about the stuff I'd stolen."

[vdistinctive]

Trust Parker not to dodge around trying to phrase things nicely. Eliot swallowed and nodded, then out a little huff of a laugh at her description of his anti-theft rant.

“Trying to protect small businesses. Wasn’t I just a piece of work.”

[whoisalicewhite]

"It's what we do now," Parker said with a shrug. "I sort of get it, now. I couldn't get it, then. I think you figured that out." She frowned a little, and then asked, "What did you think of little-me, when you were teenage-you?"