The New Headquarters of Leverage, Inc, (The Apartment Above Lukes), Monday Morning

[geniuswithasmartphone]

He was trapped. There was no where to move, nowhere to go, and he could feel the air getting thinner. Each breath was harder to draw than the last and his lungs burned with the effort of extracting what little air was left. The phone glowed blue in his hand, Parker's voice telling him he could do it, he could make it, that she needed him, and Hardison wanted to hold on for her, to prove he could do it, hell, just to see her again and make sure that there wasn't new pain in her eyes, but he knew that they weren't going to arrive in time. He strained his ears to hear the sound of the ambulance, the sound he knew he should make out by now, but they weren't close enough, he couldn't hear anything, not even Parker's voice anymore and the phone's glow died, leaving him trapped in darkness, the scent of the rose he'd been buried with and the varnish they used on the casker mixing in his nostrils and making him ill.

Or maybe that was just knowing he was going to die, all alone, in this tiny box he could never get out of by himself...

Deeply asleep and still trapped inside his nightmare, Hardison thrashed about, whimpering in fear, hot tears sliding down his cheeks.

Coffin nightmares were the worst.

[For the two there with him. Obviously]

Comments

[vdistinctive]

"I don't carry straightenin' irons around with me," Eliot pointed out. "Though . . . they would make decent weapons. . . ."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison was going to be so screwed if Parker really was putting trackers in Eliot's stuff, because after this conversation there would be no way he could convince anyone he hadn't known all along.

"See, an' that's exactly what we knew you would think," Hardison said, nodding sagely. "Which is why they're the perfect item."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker nodded cheerfully, wiggling her toes, and poked at Eliot's thigh with one foot. "Don't worry, they'll still work. Hardison's the best, remember?"

[vdistinctive]

"I hate you both," Eliot said with a long suffering sigh. "You know that, right?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Aww, that hurts," Hardison said, tapping his chest. "Right here, man. Right here. Baby, go beat him up for sayin' such mean things in the bedroom."

He was okay again, Parker. You could let go now if you wanted.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"It's a good thing we like youuuu so much," Parker said, not making a move to beat up Eliot. But some of those moves might be interpreted as either a pounce or the opening salvo in a tickle fight.

[vdistinctive]

Please. As if Eliot would be ticklish. He was one of those killjoy sorts who just raised their eyebrow at you and waited to see if you were done yet.

"I don't know why I put up with you."

They all knew why he put up with them.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Not because he was so prone to saying so, Eliot.

"Because we just track you down if you didn't," Hardison said, laughing. "Usin' your hair straighteners."